Hearts v Aberdeen: Sky Sports' David Tanner talks the Dons' title hopes ahead of Tynecastle clash

David Tanner examines Aberdeen's growing confidence and declares the Scottish title race to be well and truly on...

The top-of-the-table clash between Aberdeen and Celtic last Saturday was a fantastic advertisement for the Scottish Premiership, and it was another indicator that the league is becoming more self-assured as we move further away from the flux and fall-out of 2012.

The health of any league is defined by its title race and, in these very early weeks of the competition, it looks as though this one is going to be box-office stuff. Throw in the announcement of an extended television deal with Sky Sports until 2020 and there are many reasons to be cheerful.

Some 20,000 supporters were inside Pittodrie last weekend, Aberdeen's biggest home gate for six years, to see the biggest club in the country losing to a side which is surely now a valid title challenger. The game was played at a high intensity, packed with incident, and to beat the champions, Aberdeen had to be "relentless", as Derek McInnes put it.

Right at the top of last Saturday's programme, I asked Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds, our studio guest, the big question: "Will Aberdeen win the league?" His answer revealed a new confidence at Pittodrie. "We learnt a lot last season…I don't see why not," he said.

Just a few weeks ago, that same question would have elicited a "no", and all of a red persuasion would have been more deferential to their bigger rivals, even in private. But not now. This new approach tells me that the players are happy and assured enough to go public on their ambitions. And remember, Reynolds was speaking before the game when the Dons trailed Celtic by a point…now they are five points in front following Aberdeen's midweek victory over Hamilton.

The Dons, it seems to me, have accepted that they deserve to be top.

A couple of years ago, I filmed a feature at Inverness Caledonian Thistle, wanting to know why the Highlanders, then managed by Terry Butcher, had climbed into the top three and seemed hell-bent on staying there. The big Englishman said that his players had not become mentally strong just because of his famous inspirational qualities or the coaching of his assistant - the wily Maurice Malpas.

Instead, he attributed much of the squad's psychological fortitude to an expert in language and behaviour brought in from the world of business. Consultant David Yeoman was assisting Butch on a voluntary basis. His plan was to help the players attain the correct mindset. This helped Caley Thistle to hold onto leads, to come from behind to win when all seemed lost and, if they did lose, to recover from the defeats quickly and without any residual debris proving hazardous to their hopes of winning the next game.

The theory is that when teams climb to a higher point in a league than they have been in the past, players may start to feel that they don't belong there. This can lead to them subconsciously permitting themselves to lose games, convinced it's their destiny not to be in an elevated position. The phrase 'punching above their weight' is often used to describe a team that has over-performed, in someone's opinion. Convince players that they are, in fact, fighting at exactly their weight, then they have a chance of continuing to do well.

I watched back the footage of that trip to Inverness and our cameras caught a breakthrough moment. An Inverness player seemed to grasp that he had started to feel "comfy" in the top three. He was getting used to being a winner and he'd stopped expecting to lose. That player was Graeme Shinnie, then aged 21, who went on to skipper Inverness to an historic Scottish Cup triumph earlier this year, and has since settled quickly into the defence at Aberdeen.

I get the feeling that mentality installed by Yeoman at Inverness is working for him even now. He certainly looks at home in a group that got used to winning last season under the watchful eye of a shrewd and constantly improving manager in Derek McInnes.

Before last week's game, Mark Reynolds, Neil McCann and I discussed in the studio how Celtic would cope without Virgil van Dijk. The answer was 'not very well' on the evidence of Paul Quinn's winner for the Dons and also Ajax's leveller in the final minutes of their Europa League clash on Thursday. There was a definite softness without the physical presence of the Dutchman.

A new back-line deserves to be afforded some patience from the fans, but the bedding-in will be a high-pressure process given Aberdeen's lead, and pressure was already sky high after a second successive failure in the Champions League play-offs. Winning a point in Amsterdam could be just the thing to get Celtic going after the upset of Malmo and Van Dijk's departure.

As soon it was all over at Pittodrie and before the fans' emotional rendition of "The Northern Lights of Old Aberdeen" had faded out, we were all looking forward to the next meeting at Celtic Park on October 31. And that one is, of course, live on Sky Sports. By that time, Celtic will have improved, their new defenders should have settled and the champions will be fired-up by all the title talk surrounding the Reds. I can't wait and I bet Ronny Deila feels exactly the same.

So, Aberdeen passed their first massive test of the campaign but, as is the nature of their new status, they have another one this weekend at Tynecastle. Our next live offering from the SPFL is another sell-out, as the new leaders visit Hearts, and what a belter it promises to be.

The Dons have a 100 per cent record after winning their opening seven games and Hearts have won all of their home games so far. The capital club won their first five matches following promotion but have lost their last two, both on the road. Expect them to be lifted when returning to their atmospheric home.

Ignore all the talk of Aberdeen having won just one of the last 14 tussles with Hearts - that's irrelevant. Whilst Robbie Neilson's side were regrouping down in the Championship last season, the Dons were also reinventing themselves as big-time contenders. This is two new sets of players with winning attitudes and so it becomes a game of major significance for both sets of fans. That's why all the tickets for this clash were sold within a couple of hours.

Since Sir Alex Ferguson last took the title away from Glasgow 30 years ago, both of these clubs have laid claim to be Scotland's 'third force'. In the absence of Rangers from the Premiership, being the second power in the country could have been the target, but the Dons don't fancy lowering their sights. Interesting times in the Premiership then.

I'm pleased to say that I'll be in the studio at Tynecastle on Sunday with Neil, and we'll be live on Sky Sports 5HD from 2pm. But it was a doubt for a while after both of us were captured by pirates and held aboard HMS Unicorn on the River Tay this week! Fortunately, enough of you stumped up the ransom to ensure our release and that all that money goes to the wonderful charity Action for Children.

Thanks to all who were generous and you can still donate direct to the charity via these links:

https://www.justgiving.com/DavidTannerTV

https://www.justgiving.com/NeilKMcCann

For more news on Scottish football and on our SPFL programmes, follow @ScotlandSky on Twitter

Hearts v Aberdeen is live on Sky Sports 5HD, Sunday September 20, 2pm