Scottish football needs Aberdeen to beat Celtic at Pittodrie on Wednesday to keep the Premiership title race alive.
The resurgence of the Dons under manager Jimmy Thelin has been a shot in the arm for a Scottish top flight that has been a stale two-horse race for decades.
Finally Thelin and his team gave something every football fan outside Celtic and Rangers needs, a team pushing the hackneyed status quo.
Aberdeen’s 11 game unbeaten start to the season to go toe-to-toe with Celtic at the top of the table was refreshing, and perhaps an inspiration to other teams.
That momentum has stalled recently with the Dons stuttering to a three game winless run after matches at Hearts, Hibs and St Mirren.
However, if Aberdeen beat Celtic at Pittodrie it will slash the Hoops’ lead at the top of the table to just one point.
Then it will be game on again and talk of a title race will be reignited.
If Aberdeen lose the Premiership title race is over.
The Hoops will retain the crown.
The Dons will not be able to overhaul a seven point deficit against a Celtic team who also hold a game in hand.
Rangers are out of the title race
Third-placed Rangers are a massive 11 points behind Celtic who also have a superior goal difference of 29.
The Ibrox club will not overhaul that deficit.
Rangers are not going to overtake a Celtic team that are unbeaten in 22 league matches stretching back to last season.
It would require a Celtic collapse and Rangers to go on a long winning streak with both highly unlikely to happen.
So Aberdeen are the last hope for Scottish football fans that the Premiership title race will not be over by early December.
For the league crown to effectively be decided just a third of the way through the season and before the new year is not a good look for Scottish football.
The game needs its top flight to have title intrigue, suspense and excitement into the latter stages of the season.
And only Aberdeen and Thelin can deliver that.
Six years since Aberdeen last won against Celtic
The magnitude of the task facing the Dons is huge as Aberdeen are winless in 27 meetings with Celtic in all competitions, having drawn six and lost 21.
Not since a 1-0 victory at Parkhead in May 2018 under Derek McInnes have the Reds won against Celtic.
However Aberdeen will be fuelled by the power of Pittodrie.
Aberdeen are on a 10-game winning streak at home in the Premiership stretching back into last season.
They were imperious at home and the intimidating, raucous atmosphere during the 2-1 win against Rangers in October was formidable.
If the Red Army and Thelin’s team can reproduce the levels of the Rangers win, they can also overcome Celtic.
After taking two points from the last three games Aberdeen will be written off by many, with accusations that the ‘bubble has burst’ under Thelin.
Dons have already silenced critics
The Dons have been in this situation before, and silenced their critics.
They were written off when trailing 2-0 at half-time against Celtic at Parkhead in October.
However they fought back to draw 2-2, which is still the only points dropped by Celtic this season.
Aberdeen lost 6-0 to Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup semi-final but hopefully lessons will be learned from that horror show.
The Dons must forget the Hampden howler against Celtic and dig deep to rediscover that spirit of the second-half at Parkhead when they fought back.
Scottish football depends on it.
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