Aberdeen defender Kari Arnason is ready to extend his second stay at Pittodrie.
Arnason returned to the Dons for a second time in July on a one-year deal after a spell in Cyprus and is enjoying life at Pittodrie so much he is keen to continue his second stint with the club.
He said: “I would like to extend my contract here but I need to be playing for that to happen. At the end of the season, if I can do that, then there is a World Cup with Iceland.
“My wife had a baby recently, so it has been a very positive time.
“The World Cup is there next summer but as a footballer you can’t look too far ahead, you just have to focus on what you are doing right now.
“My focus is on Aberdeen and doing well for the club this season.”
Aberdeen are ahead of schedule on last season’s points tally but Arnason insists the Dons must improve their record against the Old Firm in 2018.
The Dons ended 2017 with a goalless draw against Hearts at Pittodrie on Saturday, a result which keeps Derek McInnes’ side in second place in the Scottish Premiership.
Iceland international Arnason is pleased with the tally but believes there is still room for improvement for the Dons when they return from the winter break later this month.
He said: “We have 43 points which is an improvement on last year’s 40 points (after 22 games).
“That is a positive but the negative is we haven’t done well enough against Celtic and Rangers. We need to improve against them; we have to do better in those fixtures.
“I think we have a better team than Rangers, so we should be beating them more regularly.
“Celtic have a strong squad but I thought the goal difference in the second game against them wasn’t reflective of our performance. We deserved more from that game but that’s no excuse, we should be doing better against them.”
Arnason says the point Rangers gained at Celtic Park on Saturday is the level of performance the Reds should be mustering when they travel to Glasgow.
He said: “Rangers went to Celtic Park and got a point, so we should be able to do that as well.
“The first game against Celtic wasn’t good enough but the second I felt we played better. So it’s a matter of improving against them.
“But if you look at the league tally things are positive, we will have our break and hopefully come back stronger for the second half of the season.
“This season it has been steady improvement and we have to build on that in the second half.”
Christie gets physical, Page 46