Manager Jim Goodwin says his Dundee United squad is stretched as they head into a Scottish Premiership double-header this week, with “influential” players still missing.

United currently sit fourth and host fifth-place Motherwell, with a chance to open up a five-point gap on Stuart Kettlewell’s side.

Craig Sibbald, Ross Graham and Louis Moult remain out, although the latter two could return at the weekend, while Ryan Strain made his comeback as a substitute in Saturday’s defeat at Aberdeen after three months out injured.

“This Wednesday we’ll have to go with the squad that we had available to us against Aberdeen, said Goodwin.

“Look, you want to have competition right throughout the squad and unfortunately in recent weeks we haven’t really had that.

“Particularly in the middle of the pitch, there’s a big demand on the likes of [Vicko] Sevelj, [David] Babunski, obviously pleased to get [Richard] Odada some minutes on Saturday as well but we are missing some really influential players.

“Obviously, our captain Ross Doherty, Craig Sibbald who’s been a mainstay in the team since I’ve come to the club and we’re light of options at the top end of the pitch as well with Louis Moult being out.”

One bright spark this season has been on-loan Liverpool player Luca Stephenson, whose versatility has proved useful.

“He has been excellent since he came in, that right-wing back role, he’s made that his own,” added Goodwin.

“The great thing about Lucas is he can play a number of different positions.

“Obviously, we moved him into the middle of the park on Saturday just to try and give us a bit more legs in there”.