Gold Coast United's Steve Pantelidis is well aware that this weekend's opponents, Melbourne Heart, are a very dangerous proposition.

The 27-year old knows that the Heart are beginning to become more comfortable in the A-League after some solid performances in their last two outings and says his team cannot underestimate the new kids on the block at AAMI Park on Saturday night.

"The Heart have very good individual players," he told tribalfootball.com. "They had a bit of a slow start but are really finding their feet.

"The win against the Victory (2-1) gave them a lot of belief and confidence and that showed last week against Wellington (2-2 draw). It's going to be a very difficult game this weekend but the boys are really looking forward to the challenge."

Pantelidis identified some key players for the Heart, indicating that the Gold Coast defenders would have to be right on top of their game to shut them out.

"They have good attackers with experience in (John) Aloisi, (Gerald) Sibon and (Alex) Terra. They also have great wide players that are dangerous," he added.

"Our defence will have to be alert and concentrate for the entire match. Hopefully we can cause them some headaches with our attacking play. I think we are dangerous when we counter attack so we will be looking to exploit this on the weekend."

And the Melbourne-born Pantelidis said it was always nice to be able to come home and play in front of family and friends.

"It's always good returning to your hometown to see family and friends," he added further. "You don't have the opportunity to get home to often during the season so every opportunity is nice. Hopefully we can win so we can celebrate the victory."