Aberdeen FC vs Celtic FC – West vs East
The two last remaining unbeaten sides meet on Saturday morning at 12:30pm. The home team currently have a perfect record with five wins from five and have not conceded a goal at Pittodrie in the league. But you would expect that to change this weekend with the champions coming to visit.
The trip from Glasgow to Aberdeen has been a happy one for Celtic over the years, with only one defeat in all competitions in thirteen visits. However, trips to the ‘granite city’ have been more competitive of late with Aberdeen FC being the only realistic rival to Celtic FC’s crown, and with the hoops having four wins from four last season. That statistic will have to change if Aberdeen want to give the Glasgow power house a realistic challenge.
Celtic FC won the league by 17 points and were only 12 points ahead when the league was split. They faced Aberdeen FC first after the split and winning that confirmed the league title was staying at Parkhead. Following the defeat, Aberdeen FC went on a 13 game unbeaten run last season and added quality in the summer. They are now better equipped to face Celtic FC and feel they can compete as they have already shown. The club cannot do more than five wins from five games but no disrespect to Partick Thistle, Dundee, Motherwell, Kilmarnock and Dundee United; this is a different level and different challenge as Celtic FC has an embarrassment of players whose quality go above and beyond any other team in the country.
Adam Rooney, with eighteen league goals last season, is where Derek McInnes will hope the chances will fall to on Saturday. He hasn’t wasted any time getting off the mark this year in only his second full season for Aberdeen FC, and has already scored four goals in five league games this season. The facts are quite simple, Aberdeen FC need Niall McGinn, Johnny Hayes, Ryan Jack and Adam Rooney to show up and play with freedom against Celtic FC to have any chance of winning. They will also need Danny Ward the newly recruited goalkeeper from Morecombe to come of age as the young lad is twenty-two and has only conceded once this year. This suggests he has settled well into life in north-east Scotland. Aberdeen FC need these players to produce because without them there is very little creativity in the team.
Celtic FC, on the other hand, have a vault of riches to call on, and if Stefan Johansen isn’t playing well then Kris Commons can replace him. Likewise, James Forrest can replace Gary Mackay-Steven, Callum McGregor can replace Stuart Armstrong, and soon Nadir Çiftçi can replace Leigh Griffiths. They are strong all over the pitch with an international or a future international ready to come into the team at any time. This game will be tight and nervy especially with a stadium expecting a better challenge this year. Sky TV, the Scottish FA, and Scottish football fans will be hoping for a Aberdeen FC win this Saturday to carry the league competition past Christmas. In the immediate future, if Aberdeen were to win they will go two points ahead of Celtic with a game in hand. This would the perfect wake-up call to Celtic and signal a true title challenge by Aberdeen. Add to the fact that Celtic players have been on international duty across Europe and this could be the perfect time to play them.
Yet Celtic show few signs of wilting to Aberdeen, and if they were to win this Saturday as expected then the status quo will be resumed. This will undoubtedly leave us asking: when will Celtic lose a game rather than the title?
