Preview: Aberdeen vs. Celtic - prediction, team news, lineups

Aberdeen will be hoping to get back to winning ways on Sunday after going eight games in a row without a victory across all competitions.

Celtic make the trip to the Pittodrie Stadium with a need to bounce back following a poor result in the Europa League, where they were comfortably defeated.

Match preview

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Despite a positive start to the season that saw Aberdeen win their opening two league games, things have gone drastically downhill for Stephen Glass and his team.

They followed up their first victories with a couple of draws, but September proved to be a difficult month for the club as they lost every single game.

Aberdeen failed to score during their defeats against Motherwell and St Johnstone, but they did find the back of the net last weekend as goals from Scott Brown and Christian Ramirez helped them take a 2-1 lead heading into half time.

However, a red card to Teddy Jenks early in the second half changed the tempo of the game, and the Dons were unable to hold on as St Mirren ended up walking away with three points after a 3-2 win.

Despite the loss, Glass's team remain just two points behind the Hoops, and a victory this weekend has the potential to take them as high as fifth in the table.

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Glass will be able to field a slightly fresher team on Sunday, though, as Celtic were in action during the week as their Europa League campaign continued.

That is something that many Hoops fans will be hoping to forget, as they suffered a heavy 4-0 loss at home to Bayern Leverkusen, who dominated throughout.

With two goals in each half, the German outfit added more misery to the Scottish Premiership squad who have now lost both of their games in Group G.

However, the most recent fixture Celtic played in the league was not much better as they drew against Dundee United, with the match before that seeing them beaten by Livingston.

A victory in the Scottish League Cup quarter-final is the only one they have managed in their past five games, and that came against Raith Rovers, who sit one division below the Hoops.

Even though no team in the division have scored more goals than Ange Postecoglou's squad, they are already six points behind their rivals Rangers, who sit in first place, and the need for more points is clear.

Team News

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Aberdeen were able to welcome back Ryan Hedges last weekend after his hamstring problem, and he walked straight into the starting XI, which is a role he is expected to keep.

However, Glass will have to make at least one change to his team due to the fact that Jenks was sent off against St Mirren, which opens up an opportunity for Austin Samuels to play.

Celtic were given a major boost for their game against Bayern Leverkusen as Kyogo Furuhashi was able to return from his knee injury, being placed straight into the starting lineup, which should be the case again this Sunday.

He was not the only big name to come back into the team either, as Callum McGregor was also put back in for the game, and while neither man played the full 90 minutes, they do offer great quality to the Hoops.

Giorgos Giakoumakis was also able to make his long-awaited debut for the club as he appeared off the bench, with Postecoglou now having a lot of his strongest players returning to full fitness.

Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Lewis; McKenzie, McCrorie, Bates, Ramsay; Brown, Ferguson; Hedges, Hayes, Samuels; Ramirez

Celtic possible starting lineup:
Hart; Ralston, Carter-Vickers, Starfelt, Montgomery; McGregor, Turnbull; Abada, Rogic, Filipe; Furuhashi

We say: Aberdeen 1-1 Celtic

Neither team comes into this game with much confidence and if they want to stay involved in the title picture then they must commence a winning run sooner rather than later.

However, this is going to be a tough game for both of them, and because of that they could end up playing out a draw due to the lack of belief in each squad at the moment.