Aberdeen’s 1-0 victory over Inverness Caley Thistle moved them to just two points behind league leaders Celtic – is it time to start talking about a serious title race?
The Dons, along with the rest of the league, were supposedly playing for second place at the start of the season, with Celtic expected to comfortably claim their fourth league title in a row.
However, Aberdeen’s recent run, which has seen Derek McInnes’ men win seven of their last eight Premiership games has taken them to within two points of the leaders, while victory over St Johnstone on New Year’s Day would send the Dons top of the league – at least until Celtic play Partick Thistle two hours later.
Despite the Dons form, despite Adam Rooney netting 17 goals already this season and despite a defensive record which has seen Aberdeen keep 15 clean sheets in all competitions so far this campaign, the majority of Scottish football fans still don’t seem convinced that Aberdeen can take Celtic all the way and mount a serious title challenge, while the Dons players are understandably wary of speaking about a title challenge.
Going forward the Dons have an impressive array of attacking options – Adam Rooney, David Goodwillie, Peter Pawlett and Niall McGinn would start for the majority, if not all, Premiership teams, while Jonny Hayes has been an incredibly consistent performed for Derek McInnes, despite playing in a number of different positions.
Ryan Jack’s return to fitness has also given the Dons a huge boost in the middle of the park.
However, despite the attacking flair and talent in McInnes’ squad, this season’s success has been built on a defence which has kept 10 premiership clean sheets from 18 games.
As well as a strong starting 11, Derek McInnes also has a number of talented youngsters such as Lawrence Shankland and Cammy Smith in reserve, while captain Russell Anderson has yet to make his return to the first team.
The club is undoubtedly in a strong position on the pitch and with the recent clearing of the debt, it has been a long time since things looked healthier off the pitch.
2014 has been a great year for Aberdeen but could 2015 be even better? Could Derek McInnes lead the Dons to the Premiership league title?