DEREK McInnes makes no boasts about the potential outcome of his Aberdeen side’s eagerly awaited match against Celtic when the Premiership champions visit Pittodrie tomorrow.
But one thing’s for sure; he’s irritated, perhaps puzzled, that his side have been unable to record a win or draw against Brendan Rodgers' side in the last nine games dating back to February 2016.
Nor does he seek hope that the visitors might be travel weary following their Russian misadventure when they were filleted by Zenit St Petersburg on Thursday night as he hinted that they usually raise their games against his team.
There are no pre-match excuses from the Aberdeen manager, either, even if he will be without influential midfielders Graeme Shinnie, who is suspended, and Ryan Christie, sidelined because of the terms of his loan deal from Parkhead.
A closing of the nine-point gap, however, would make for an interesting closing few weeks of the campaign and it is the run-in which is McInnes’ focus.
“It has always been a big game,” he said. “Usually first against second and I think Celtic have always treated it that way. Their bigger and better players bring that kind of performance. Against us they always have their bigger players on the pitch, but we should relish that challenge.
“We need to bring a better level of performance individually and that should bring about a better team
performance. In the games against Rangers and Celtic, the individual performances have been better from their players than it has been from ours. It is nine games and nine defeats to Celtic, which doesn’t sit well.
“There were two cup finals in there and they have all been big matches. Even if they are not in full throttle for 90 minutes it’s difficult to get results against them and that has been the case for us.”
He admitted there is no need to fire-up his squad for any games, especially as they try to get over a disastrous 2-0 defeat to Hibernian at Easter Road last weekend.
He said: “The players play with motivation every week. They were disappointed with the performance last week. It was in contrast to what we have been getting before that. I had been very pleased with our play since the winter break. We want to get back to winning ways, although facing Celtic is always the toughest game you have. But we will try and I don’t think their European game will have much
of an impact. Celtic are the one team who are used to coping with that sort of schedule.”
Midfield playmaker Niall McGinn believes an Aberdeen win would put pressure not only on Celtic in the league race but on teams like Rangers – on the same points as Aberdeen but with a better goal difference – and on Neil Lennon’s Hibs sitting fourth in the table.
But he fears Celtic's European exit could backfire on the teams in the hunt for runners-up in the league race as Rodgers’ outfit put all their focus on domestic football.
“We are due a performance against Celtic,” he said, but they 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 which will dictate whether there are going to be other teams closer to that first place or not. I think it’s still early doors. 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.”
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