ALL eyes will be on Pittodrie tonight as Rangers travel north to take on Derek McInnes' in-form Aberdeen side. Since their 4-0 dismantling at the hands of Celtic, the Dons have picked up 13 points out of the last 15 available and go into the match with their confidence high.
Rangers, of course, have also put together an enviable set of results over the last two months or so; Steven Gerrard's side are unbeaten in their last 11 games in all competitions, and have chalked up five straight Premiership victories.
The visitors are the favourites to leave the Granite City with all three points tonight and after Rangers' 5-0 demolition of Aberdeen at Ibrox earlier this season it isn't difficult to see why. But Pittodrie has proven to be a problematic venue in the past and there is no question that this time around, Rangers will be facing a far sterner opposition than the one they did in Govan earlier in the campaign.
With key players back from injury and in form, Aberdeen look well-equipped to give a far better account of themselves this time around. And while Rangers fans will be hoping, and possibly expecting, three points from tonight's encounter there are a few key areas where the match will be won and lost.
First goal will be crucial
It might sound obvious, but whichever side breaks the deadlock at Pittodrie will be in the driving seat as both Rangers and Aberdeen are generally very good at seeing out a lead. Gerrard's side are yet to drop points in the league this season from a winning position, while the Dons have went on to win 10 of the 12 games where they've taken the lead.
READ MORE: Aberdeen v Rangers | Kick-off, TV times, odds and team news
Both teams have picked up seven points from losing positions this season, although it should be noted that proportionally, Rangers are better equipped to do so. On the four occasions the Ibrox club have trailed their opponents, they have gone on to record two wins, one draw and a solitary defeat (against Celtic in September). Aberdeen, meanwhile, lose half of their matches where they trail the opposition.
Aerial contests could decide outcome
Gerrard and McInnes both place a heavy emphasis on playing crosses into the box and tonight's game could well be decided by whichever defence deals with these most effectively. Rangers comfortably hit the most crosses of any team in the league this season, while Aberdeen are not too far behind in second.
READ MORE: Rangers boss Steven Gerrard reckons Aberdeen clash is perfect warm-up for Celtic showdown
McInnes will surely be encouraged that Aberdeen easily have the highest crossing accuracy rate of any Premiership team and while Gerrard's side attempt more deliveries than anyone else, only Hamilton have a lower accuracy. Rangers are playing a numbers game here; only around one in four of their deliveries will reach their intended target, which is relatively low, but the crosses that are successful often result in goals.
Rangers have scored nine headers in the league this season which is easily the highest total of any Premiership side. Motherwell and Hearts have scored five each and are tied in second place, lagging some way behind the Ibrox side. And Aberdeen, for all their crossing ability, have just four headed goals to their name this season. Only two of Sam Cosgrove's nine league goals this season have been headers; a statistic that belies his 'target man' reputation.
Fluidity key to Rangers attack
The biggest headache facing McInnes ahead of kick-off lies within his defensive structure. As Rangers aptly demonstrated at Ibrox in September, Aberdeen's man-marking defensive system can come undone when opposition players roam from their nominal positions.
In the 5-0 game, time and time again Rangers' forwards would drop deep, dragging defenders with them to disrupt the Aberdeen backline. And time and time again, it worked. Rangers' wingers would cut inside with diagonal runs while the central players would drift wide, and Aberdeen's full-backs were clearly unsure which player they were expected to pick up. As my colleague Blair Newman eloquently explained, this caused all sorts of chaos within Aberdeen's defensive ranks as Gerrard's side dissected them repeatedly and seemingly at will.
McInnes will undoubtedly be aware of this issue but it would be a surprise to see the Aberdeen manager deviate from this defensive template. It is a system that he has employed for the majority of his time at the club and like it or loathe it, it is the way his defenders have been trained to play.
READ MORE: How Steven Gerrard's tactics exposed Aberdeen's deficiencies
McGinn and Hedges are Aberdeen's best route to goal
When the two sides last met, Aberdeen's two wingers spent the majority of the match pinned back inside their own half trying to deal with James Tavernier and Borna Barisic's repeated forays forward. The consequence of this is that on the rare occasions Aberdeen looked to break, they were nowhere to be seen and Cosgrove cut an isloated figure in the away side's attack.
While both of Rangers' full-backs are likely to bomb forward once again to support their side's attacks, both Ryan Hedges on the right and Niall McGinn on the left must be prepared to exploit the space vacated by Rangers' wide defenders if and when they venture forward. McGinn and Hedges have set up eight goals between them for Aberdeen in the Premiership this season and are comfortably the two greatest creative outlets in McInnes' team.
McGinn, in particular, must ensure that he is available as an out ball when the hosts are in possession. As one of the best dribblers of the ball in the top flight - he has the sixth-highest dribbling success rate of any Premiership player - McGinn has the ability to cause Tavernier problems, whether it be taking on his opposite number directly or driving in behind the Rangers captain. If Aberdeen are to get anything from tonight's match, both Hedges and McGinn will need to be proactive on the ball and direct in their play. If they shirk their attacking responsibilities - as was the case at Ibrox - then the chances of an Aberdeen victory will diminish significantly.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article