Aberdeen are set to welcome Celtic to Pittodrie Stadium on Wednesday night for a highly anticipated clash between the two top contenders in the Scottish Premiership table.
The hosts sit second in the standings with 33 points from 14 matches, while the visitors lead the league by four points, having earned 37 from their first 13 games.
Match preview
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After enjoying a remarkable start to the 2024-25 season across all competitions, Aberdeen's form has suffered a notable decline in the past weeks.
They began their campaign with 15 wins and one draw from their opening 16 matches across all competitions, leaving them joint top of the league table and in the Scottish League Cup semi-final.
That marked a phenomenal beginning to the term given their disappointing 2023-24 season, where Aberdeen cycled through three different managers and placed ninth in the pre-split table, though they did climb to seventh in the post-split standings.
Jimmy Thelin, who took charge of the side in the summer, eventually suffered his first defeat as Dons manager in his 17th competitive match in charge, a humiliating 6-0 loss to Celtic in their League Cup semi-final tie.
While they initially bounced back with a commanding 4-1 victory against Dundee in the league, they have since recorded a loss to St Mirren (2-1) and back-to-back draws with Hibernian (3-3) and Hearts (1-1).
Those results have seen them slip to four points behind Celtic in the league table, with the Bhoys also boasting a game in hand, meaning a victory here could be crucial in the title race.
Celtic will be confident of securing another win and extending their lead at the top of the table to seven points, with the Bhoys having avoided defeat in their last 11 matches across all competitions.
Brendan Rodgers' men have actually suffered only one loss in the past 33 fixtures, spanning from the closing stages of last season into this campaign, with that defeat coming to Borussia Dortmund in this year's Champions League.
Celtic were destroyed 7-1 in that game, a hugely surprising result given their incredible form heading into the match, but they have rebounded superbly in the following outings, winning eight and drawing three of the 11 outings since.
Team News
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Dimitar Mitov may be unavailable for Aberdeen's upcoming matches after the goalkeeper was forced off with an injury in the 46th minute of their draw to Hearts last time out, meaning Ross Doohan is likely to start here.
Pape Habib Gueye is also ruled out until the new year due to a muscle injury he sustained in September, while James McGarry is also a doubt after coming off in the last match.
As for Celtic, Odin Thiago Holm is expected to be the only absentee for the visitors, with no new injury concerns arising from their recent matches.
Rodgers rotated a number of players for their recent 5-0 hammering of Ross County, with Paulo Bernardo, Luke McCowan and Adam Idah all scoring, but all three could return to the bench in favour of usual starters Reo Hatate, Arne Engels and Kyogo Furuhashi here.
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Doohan; Devlin, MacDonald, Molloy, Milne; Palaversa, Nilsen; Morris, Clarkson, McGrath; Sokler
Celtic possible starting lineup:
Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Trusty, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda
We say: Aberdeen 1-3 Celtic
Aberdeen have suffered a decline in form in recent outings, while Celtic have continued their incredible unbeaten start to the league, leading us to believe the visitors will win here.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
