When the fixture list was announced in June few would have anticipated the first meeting of Aberdeen and Celtic in October being a mid-table encounter.
Two new managers share the same desperate need to get a result following less than auspicious starts to their careers.
Stephen Glass’ Aberdeen are without a win in eight games and have lost their last three Premiership matches.
Celtic’s Ange Postecoglou is still searching for his first point on the road in the league after three straight defeats.
Something will change at Pittodrie on Sunday, of that much we can be certain.
One of the three scenarios is guaranteed: Celtic will pick up their first away point in the league, win their first away game or Aberdeen will stop the rot and get back to winning ways.
Who is in more need of a win is open to debate, but there is little doubt the prospect of going into the international break on the back of four straight defeats will have Dons fans nervously pondering what this season may hold.
Aberdeen can target Celtic’s set-piece frailty
One crumb of comfort for the Red Army should be Celtic’s weakness at set-pieces. It was an issue last season under former manager Neil Lennon and it has continued to be the club’s Achilles heel on the road so far.
John Souttar headed home Michael Smith’s free-kick to give Hearts a 2-1 victory on the opening day of the season before Filip Helander repeated the trick with a bullet header from a corner at Ibrox in August to give Rangers a 1-0 win.
Former Caley Thistle attacker Andrew Shinnie then took advantage of more poor defending to score the only goal of the game as Livingston claimed their first league win on September 19.
A sensational winning goal & a place in #TOTW 👏@LiviFCOfficial's @andy_shinnie doing bits on Sunday 🦁#cinchPrem | @cinchuk pic.twitter.com/SpsmPDPDoU
— SPFL (@spfl) September 21, 2021
As Aberdeen showed even in defeat at St Mirren last weekend, they are a threat in dead-ball situations with Scott Brown and Christian Ramirez both converting Calvin Ramsay deliveries for the Dons goals in the 3-2 loss in Paisley.
The problem for the Dons, as has been well documented, is their own inability to keep the ball out of the net.
One clean sheets in his 20 games in charge makes for grim viewing for Glass.
The loss of Andy Considine, the stalwart of the team, has not helped matters. but Aberdeen’s defensive malaise is so much more than one individual with 31 goals conceded in the competitive matches since Glass arrived.
Individual errors can be used to explain some of the goals conceded, but the Glass revolution has led to a completely new back four being deployed.
Full-backs Ramsay and Jack Mackenzie played either side of central pairing David Bates and Ross McCrorie in Paisley. They have an average age of 21.5.
The most experienced member of the defence, Declan Gallagher, has found himself on the bench in recent weeks and as a result out of the Scotland squad for the upcoming World Cup qualifiers.
Considine will not return until 2022, while Michael Devlin, the other central defensive option, is continuing to work on regaining his fitness following several injury setbacks in the last two years.
Celtic, shorn of the services of the the exciting Kyogo Furuhashi, have not carried the same attacking threat while he has been sidelined by injury, but the prospect of taking on the Dons this weekend is unlikely to have them heading north in hesitant mood.
It seems certain the resolve and concentration of the respective defences will be crucial in deciding the outcome of this one.