Aberdeen attacking midfielder Niall McGinn believes the next fortnight will determine if the Dons can challenge Celtic for the Premiership title.
The Dons are nine points behind the league leaders with 11 matches remaining ahead of tomorrow’s meeting at Pittodrie.
Derek McInnes’ Reds then travel to Motherwell on Wednesday before next weekend’s Scottish Cup tie against in-form Kilmarnock.
That is followed by games against struggling Partick Thistle and Dundee and McGinn hopes a victory against the Hoops tomorrow could provide the platform for a winning run that could put the Dons in a position to challenge the Hoops, who are bidding for a seventh successive top flight title.
The Northern Ireland international said: “If we win it probably will put a bit of pressure on them and on other teams around us.
“We just want to go out and get the result. We are due a performance against them and we are due a result, especially after last weekend’s defeat at Hibernian.
“Celtic are out of Europe and they are going to concentrate on the league and the Scottish Cup.
“It could be a disadvantage for the rest of the teams like ourselves and Rangers, who are there or thereabouts. But it’s got the makings of an interesting couple of weeks.
“The next couple of weeks will dictate whether there’s going to be other teams close to that first place or not.
“Our target was reaching cup finals.
“With the season Celtic had last season, we were just concentrating on second spot. But we are coming into a very important period in the season. We just want to get back to winning ways and there’s no better time than Sunday.”
McGinn, a former Celtic player, does not expect the Hoops to suffer a Europa League hangover after their dismal showing in Thursday’s 3-0 defeat by Zenit St Petersburg as they exited the competition with a whimper.
McGinn said: “I know from my own experience in Europe it can go one of two ways. It could be an off day for Celtic but with the resources they have they can freshen things up.
“Scott Sinclair came off the bench on Thursday night and he could play on Sunday.
“So, I don’t buy into the fact that they will be jet lagged and having to travel to Aberdeen.
“They could have an off-day or they could come out with all guns blazing, like they did earlier in the season.”
The Dons have taken zero points from a possible 15 in their five games against Celtic and Rangers this season – and McGinn is determined to address that poor return this weekend.
He said: “I wasn’t here when we lost a couple of games but last season was a special season for them.
“We managed to beat them the season before that so we are capable of beating Celtic.
“But we want to do it more often. The longer you go without beating them the more frustrating it gets.
“If we had taken points off the Old Firm teams it could have been more interesting than it is now. The boys have been very consistent in other matches but we want to beat Celtic and we want to beat Rangers. If that happens it could be very interesting. Hopefully we do that on Sunday.
“We want to bounce back from last weekend.
“The whole performance all over the park against Hibernian was not good enough and we want to put it right.”