It was Steven Pressley who put a number on it, in the wake of last weekend's derby. The Dundee manager reckoned 38 points should be enough for Scottish Premiership safety this season.

Had they not somehow contrived to concede twice after the 93rd minute of that game last weekend, Dundee United would already be beyond that mark after Sunday's win over Celtic.

Mind you, had it not been for goals conceded after the 85th minute of matches, the Tannadice side would be fifth and only three points behind Motherwell.

Ifs, buts and maybes...

Jim Goodwin's side appear likely to see out the season in the bottom six - needing to beat Rangers and Livingston and hoping Falkirk lose to the Ibrox side and Motherwell heavily - to sneak into the top half.

"If we do pull off the miraculous and sneak into the top six it will be a great achievement," he told BBC Sport Scotland.

"If we don't then no doubt I'll spend the summer thinking about what could've been, because of the amount of points we've dropped from winning positions and the amount of late goals we've conceded.

"Hopefully, we'll pull a rabbit out of the hat."

Goodwin will know that scenario is unlikely, but he will also know that his side have now probably just about done enough to extricate themselves from a increasingly fraught-looking relegation fight, with a 10-point cushion over 11th place.

But how is that race away from the bottom shaping up with seven games of the campaign to go?

The weekend results will have caused some anxiety among fans of Dundee and Aberdeen.

Granted, they both had to travel to face title contenders on Saturday but their defeats, combined with wins for St Mirren and Kilmarnock, have tightened things up significantly.

Five points now span what looks like a four-way fight to avoid the relegation play-off against a Championship side, with Livingston 12 points adrift at the bottom.

Aberdeen visit St Mirren next - taking new manager Stephen Robinson back to the club he just left - then host Hibernian. Tough?

Dundee are at home to Celtic after the international break, then visit Kilmarnock before the split. Tougher?

St Mirren's last game before the split is against Celtic in Glasgow, while Kilmarnock visit Hibs before that trip to Dundee. Also not easy.

And there is one other layer to this, too.

Whether it is United or Falkirk, there will be an imbalance of fixtures as four of the bottom six will have had one more home game and two will have played one more away.

That will result in at least one team making a third trip to a particular ground this season, a potentially difficult poser for the SPFL given what is at stake.

Robinson has only had two games as Aberdeen manager, including Saturday's 4-1 defeat at Rangers, while Kilmarnock have picked up under Neil McCann since his appointment in January with three wins and two draws from 10. Saturday's victory over Livingston made it back-to-back wins for McCann.

Since Robinson's departure, coach Craig McLeish has overseen first-team matters and he got his first win at Falkirk on Saturday after a loss to Rangers the week before.

"They've been brought into it," former Dundee United manager and Celtic captain Jackie McNamara said on Sportscene.

"Aberdeen, they've not had that bounce yet from Stephen Robinson going in there. He'd be hoping for that, he's got a bit of time now with the international break to work with the players and to put his points across, what he'd be looking for.

"The reflection on the Rangers game, there's a lot they need to improve on.

"Kilmarnock, Neil's done a great job there. He's turned it around there. He's got that little bounce that you're looking for. The last two games have been good for him.

"St Mirren, that was a big result for them against Falkirk, for Craig to get that result. Falkirk are very strong at home and that will give them a real lift as well."