Miko Virtanen says it's no surprise that his old club Arbroath are top of the Championship, but says there will ne no old pals' act when Hamilton travel there on Wednesday.
The Finnish defender says the Red Lichties have been building a side for years now and, having spent two loan spells at Gayfield from Aberdeen between 2019 and 2021, knows all about them.
But he says Hamilton have picked up some form in recent weeks and go there full of confidence, despite their 3-2 Boxing Day defeat against Kilmarnock.
Virtanen, 22, said: "It's not really a surprise that Arbroath are top of the league, actually. I was there in the last two seasons, and they've kept the same team.
"They've built something from League Two, really, when Dick Campbell took over, and they've managed to keep the same players, so it's not a surprise.
"The way they work, the way the club is run, it's no surprise they're up there, and it's great for them.
"I'm certainly looking forward to seeing all the fans and the players again."
Having thumped Accies 4-0 earlier this season and the sides battling out a 1-1 draw at Hamilton in November, you'd be forgiven for thinking that Virtanen and co will be looking to settle a score.
However, he says it's not about that, or Accies being labelled 'underdogs', but simply a case of trying to win the game.
He said: "We're just going into it wanting to win the game, regardless of who it's against.
"We'll be going up there expecting a win, and that's how we're going to play, regardless of how we've performed against them previously this season.
"But, like I said, they're on great form, they're a great club, so it won't be an easy game by any means, and we know what Gayfield is like with the wind.
"Sometimes the 'wind machine' comes on - I know all about that, so it won't be an easy game.
"I'm not really thinking of it as an underdog or any sort of battle like that. I'm going into the game confident."
Virtanen added: "I think on Sunday we created more than enough chances to win the game and yes, we should be defending better - it's hard to win a game when you concede three - but I think we could have scored five or six.
"But you can see that the team is starting to perform a lot better in recent weeks - we're creating goals, we're creating chances, so I think the whole team is going there feeling good and thinking that we can get the win.
"It would be a massive three points. Our aim is to push as far up as we can, now.
"We've not had the best start to the season but we've started to pick up points - we were unlucky on Sunday not to pick up points, and I felt like we should have, so we're looking to get all three points from the Arbroath game, get back down, and think about the Queen of the South game after."
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