Athletic secured a much-needed victory over struggling Kelty Hearts last Saturday which sees them level on points with eighth placed Caley Jags.
Meanwhile, the Doonhamers sit in the final promotion play-off spot after they trounced Inverness 4-1 at Palmerston and rivals Alloa lost in the last minute to already relegated Dumbarton.
And with only five league games remaining, this derby encounter could be massive for both set of clubs.
Annan player/manager Wullie Gibson believes his side need to approach the encounter with calm heads.
He said: “It’s a derby, you shouldn’t need any more motivation than that. Queens will want to win it and we’ll want to win it.
“There’s a lot riding on the game. I’ll be putting it across to the players not only do we need the same kind of energy and quality on the ball, but we definitely need calm heads as we all know how the derby can go as it can get very frantic at times.
“I think it will be the team that deals with the pressure the best that will come out on top.”
Across the A75, Queens assistant manager Colin McMenamin – who has had a long association with both clubs during his playing and coaching career – thinks it could be a belter at Galabank.
He said: “We’re looking forward to it. We were treated really well down at Annan. I’ve probably got as much history with Queens and Annan than anyone else in the region, maybe barring Andy Aitken.
“It will be a great day and hopefully the fans can come down and support us because we are trying to build momentum now.
“We’ve had three really positive performances and scored seven goals. We’re attacking well and we want to continue that into the Annan match. It should be a good game.
“We’re concentrating on ourselves, we know we’ve got five more games and if we win them we’re in the play-offs. It’s in our own hands.”
