The manager sat down with the media at this afternoon’s pre-match press conference and revealed Jack Butland, John Souttar, Leon Balogun and James Tavernier will all still be missing for the match, while Dujon Sterling, who has filled in at centre-back recently, is a doubt.
Clement was asked about the defensive injury problems and says hopes players can continue to step up to opportunities and show what they can do for the squad.
He said: “It is about finding solutions and that is what we have been doing in the last couple of weeks. For example, putting Ridvan at right full-back and he has been doing a really good job there, so we need to be creative in that way.
“We need to have a good level with the defence and not concede the goals that we conceded against Hibs on the two set-pieces. That annoyed me a lot that we lost not with open play chances or goals but on set pieces so that is what we addressed, and I need to make a decision around that towards this game because it is also one of the strengths of Dundee.
“We had a period where we had stability in the defensive part. We had a lot of clean sheets in a row, and we almost didn't give away chances and we were struggling with creating a lot of chances. We still had enough to win games but not in the amount that we are doing now.
“Now that the offensive part is growing and getting better, we lose a lot of players in defence so in that way it has been difficult to create consistency.
“It also creates opportunities for other people to step up who maybe wouldn’t have a chance if all these players were fit. They have the opportunity to show themselves and there can be moments where you can get really positive surprises, and I count on that tomorrow.”
When asked about the away form of late, Clement continued: “It is a normal thing that you guys ask that one because it is true about points. There have been different things, in the Hibs game, I think the team played really well and we scored three really good goals with domination, but you concede two goals that are avoidable by winning the duals.
“It is about duels, it is not about organisation, it is about duels and then you get a penalty against.
“I was not happy about the St Mirren game and the Motherwell game by starting well, and then conceding a goal with an individual mistake and then rushing things. In that way we did much better against Hibs, we kept on playing and a good example for me is the third goal. We were not rushing, and we waited for the right moment to do the right things.
The manager believes the squad have shown that the potential is there, as he looks for maximum points in Dundee tomorrow evening.
He continued: “They have shown their resilience, maybe not in the results all the time but there has not been one game where their heads were down, and they were not running and not fighting anymore.
“That has not been the case, but we need to get better results, so we need to get all those details more consistently. We have seen the potential and that is a good thing, but it is about getting this consistently together in that way. We are going to go to Dundee to try to be the best team and to win the points.”