Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is hopeful defender Graeme Shinnie will win his race to be fit to feature for the Dons against Dundee this weekend.
The 25-year-old was substituted 33 minutes into Saturday’s 1-1 draw against former club Caley Thistle after sustaining a foot injury.
The Dons are already without captain Ryan Jack as he continues his recovery from knee surgery ahead of his expected return in the middle of next month.
McInnes’ Reds have a massive week coming up, with Sunday’s trip to Dens Park followed by a League Cup quarter-final at Pittodrie a week tomorrow and the visit of Rangers to Pittodrie three days after that.
McInnes said: “Graeme hasn’t been able to train yet this week but we are hopeful he will be OK for the game against Dundee.
“There is a concern but hopefully he will make it. We haven’t ruled him out of playing at Dens Park.”
Meanwhile, Aberdeen midfielder Niall McGinn believes a back-to-basics approach is needed for the Dons to get their season rolling.
One win and three draws from their opening five league games has left McInnes’ Reds playing catch-up already in the Scottish Premiership.
However, the Northern Ireland international McGinn believes the upcoming schedule can galvanise his club.
He said: “It’s going to be a tough week but one that can obviously get your confidence back on track again.
“Away to Dundee is always a big derby when we take a lot of supporters there then it’s St Johnstone in the cup.
“We’ve got Rangers at home a few days after that, so it is an exciting time coming up for the club and one for us to gain momentum.
“It’s got the makings of a great spell for us and we need to get back to basics and look forward to the Dundee match.”
The third draw of the campaign came at Pittodrie on Saturday when Caley Thistle earned a point despite McGinn scoring the opening goal for his side.
The six-point return from a possible 15 is a huge contrast from the eight-game winning start to last season but McGinn insists the squad is still gelling after a busy summer of new arrivals at the club.
He said: “There was a feeling of frustration as we created a few chances but really weren’t as fluent as we can be.
“We didn’t move Inverness around as much as we like in the first half but that improved in the second half and it would have been a different story if we had got a second.
“It’s still early in the season, new faces have come in and we are still gelling as a team but we are still playing well at times.