Derek McInnes believes there will still be plenty of twists and turns in the Scottish Premiership title race whatever the score at Celtic Park on Sunday.
The league’s top two go head-to-head in the east end of Glasgow this weekend in a hotly-anticipated encounter.
A victory for Ronny Deila’s Hoops would move them six points clear of the Dons with a game in hand, while an Aberdeen win would set up a riveting end to the campaign.
The stakes are high but Dons manager McInnes says the match against Celtic will not define Aberdeen’s season.
He said: “There are still just three points to play for on Sunday, the same as every other game. There will be loads of points ahead of us to go and earn after this match.
“Of course, we want to win the three points on Sunday but whether we win, lose or draw the game we don’t think anything will be done and dusted by any stretch of the imagination.
“We would just move on to the next one.
“We just want to win as many games as we can between now and the end of the season and see where it takes us.
“I believe we have enough confidence about us at the minute to attack the rest of the season. But even if we lose on Sunday, there will still be 33 points left to play for in our remaining games.”
The Dons will go into Sunday’s match as underdogs, despite a 13-game unbeaten run in the league.
Goalkeeper Scott Brown has kept 11 clean sheets during that sequence and McInnes believes the match against the Hoops is coming at a good time for his side.
He added: “I’m delighted we are able to go into the game on the back of three good victories. If we win the game it would be a huge confidence boost for everyone.
“Building it up as a must-win game is a bit premature but it is a significant game, just as it is whenever you play a team around about you.
“We have done well against teams around about us recently and we hope to do that again on Sunday.”