Saturday could be the day the tectonic plates of the Premiership really shift – as the league’s two flawless starters, champions Celtic and Aberdeen, meet at Parkhead.
While Swedish boss Jimmy Thelin’s 13-game winning start to his Dons career has sent moderate tremors through Scottish football, a victory over the Hoops in Glasgow this weekend – as our columnist Willie Miller put it – would be an early-season earthquake in the top-flight.
Both hosts Celtic and Aberdeen are seven-wins-from-seven-outings on league business, but something simply has to give by 5pm on Saturday.
Can Aberdeen keep their winning run going at Celtic Park?
Before the international break, the Reds kept their unbroken chain of wins in all competitions going with a comeback victory at home to Hearts.
But the latest link in the Dons’ impressive opening sequence under Thelin was not closed until the final moments – when Croatian midfielder Ante Palaversa slammed home from close range to make it 3-2.
Aberdeen’s winning run has endured, certainly in recent Premiership matches, not just with flurries of well-drilled, explosive attacking play, but because of their sheer determination to take all three points.
In their earlier wins against Dundee and Motherwell, they had to scratch and bite to retain 2-1 leads late on, while at Ross County, it took a late, late debut finish from Kevin Nisbet to the break the deadlock and secure victory.
Against Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic side, with the Hoops playing as they have been, Thelin’s tactical machine will need to run smoothly for the majority of proceedings and the Dons will also need every ounce of their determination.
Another win, though, and Aberdeen will be just one more victory from the club-record of 15 straight victories achieved by Eddie Turnbull’s Reds in the 1970s – which should be just one big motivating factor.
What would victory against Celtic mean in context of the Dons season?
Throughout Aberdeen’s flawless kick-off to the 2024/25 campaign, there have been doubters – onlookers who have pointed to victories coming against lower-league opponents in the Premier Sports Cup and perceived “lesser” Premiership sides.
For these onlookers, even the evidence of defeating Hearts has been muddied by the Jambos’ car crash start to a domestic campaign where they have struggled to balance European commitments.
The workmanlike-nature of some of the Reds’ wins has only added to the “are they really that good?” questioning of Thelin’s revamped team in some quarters.
However, a win (or even a draw) at Parkhead, against a Celtic side who have been untouchable in title terms in recent seasons, would be too much of a statement for the naysayers to ignore.
With a Premier Sports Cup semi-final against the Hoops already secured, even the most cynical outsiders would accept there is a fair chance of the Dons ending their decade-long cup drought this term.
But a Premiership victory in Glasgow’s East End to send the Reds to the summit, three points ahead of Celtic and seven points above third-placed Rangers (before they play of Sunday), would be another thing entirely.
It would surely convince a few more people Aberdeen, if not yet league championship material, could at least split the big two.
Will Jimmy Thelin change anything for Premiership’s toughest test?
Aberdeen haven’t beaten Celtic at Parkhead since Andy Considine’s finish was the difference on trophy day in 2018 – a game where the Hoops (in Rodgers’ first spell) had the league sewn up, while the Dons needed to win to beat Rangers to second.
This time the fixture is as live as can be for both sides.
Since arriving at Pittodrie from Elfsborg, Thelin has stuck steadfastly to his 4-2-3-1 formation, with a clear tactical identity: counter-pressing, dropping back if needs be, attacking as quickly as is possible with accuracy after the ball is won back.
In terms of personnel, the line-up has been pretty easy to predict, with the front-four the area of the side with the most changes game-to-game, in part due to injuries to now-fit-again attacking midfielder Leighton Clarkson and recently-crocked goal machine Pape Habib Gueye.
For the Celtic game, there are too interesting selection discussion points for Aberdeen –
Midfield: Given former £6 million-pound-man Palaversa’s eye-catching displays for the Dons so far, including his substitute appearance and winner against Hearts, might Thelin be tempted to add the imposing, pass-master to the starting midfield for Parkhead, while also retaining energetic skipper Graeme Shinnie and ice-cool Norwegian enforcer Sivert Heltne Nilsen? It would mean more of a 4-3-3 formation and one fewer attacking player on the park for the Reds.
Duk – Following his return to action off the bench against Hearts, Duk set-up Palaversa’s winner, with his performance likely going a long way in earning the trust of Thelin and earning back the trust of the Red Army after the Cape Verde international’s disappearing act over the summer. Is maverick forward Duk now ready to start again? In a 4-2-3-1 or a 4-3-3, he would have to take the place of either Jamie McGrath or Topi Keskinen out wide, Clarkson through the middle, or Kevin Nisbet upfront…
Enter our new Dons Score Predictor League!
We have launched our new Dons Score Predictor League, where readers can win £100 for guessing the correct scoreline for each of Aberdeen’s Premiership matches in the 2024/25 season.
As well as a correct result for each league fixture seeing contestants entered into a £100 cash draw, a right answer will also earn them 1 point in our Dons Score Predictor League table – with the highest points scorer over the campaign winning a whopping £1,903.
The Dons Score Predictor League is open to Evening Express print readers and our online subscribers.
To ensure you’re a paying reader, you need to know the upcoming game password to fill in the entry form – which will be included in this pre-game talking points piece for each Premiership match.
The password for the Celtic v Aberdeen game on Saturday is “Devlin”.
You can find the form to enter your score prediction here (the deadline for match-day eight entries noon on Saturday):
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