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.

Match preview

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.

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