Aberdeen vs Celtic; Scottish Premiership
Aberdeen vs Celtic. Scottish Premiership.
PittodrieAttendance17,105.
Scottish Premiership: Aberdeen v Celtic match preview
Tuesday 1 November 2016 10:09, UK
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes is hopeful Ash Taylor and Jayden Stockley will recover from thigh strains in time to face Premiership leaders Celtic at Pittodrie on Saturday, live on Sky Sports 5 HD from 11.30am.
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Midfielder Ryan Jack could start after getting some game time for the U20s in midweek while young winger Scott Wright is out with a hamstring problem.
Jack insists all is not lost if Celtic were to prevail and is quietly confident the hosts can gain a positive result in the lunchtime kick-off.
He said: "I wouldn't say it's a 'must-win' game at all, I'd say it's a game we're very capable of winning at home, in front of our own fans and we managed to beat them twice last season.
"It's still early doors, there are plenty of points to be won and lost and we'll have to face Celtic twice after this one.
"I think there are a lot of points to be played for between now and the end of the season. We just want to keep winning games and stay as close to Celtic as we can."
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers will be without Kieran Tierney who has been ruled out for two months with ankle ligament damage suffered in a training.
Honduras international Emilio Izaguirre will therefore retain the left-back role he occupied for the midweek win over Ross County.
Skipper Scott Brown is back after sitting out the Dingwall trip following the birth of his third child while other midweek absentees Kolo Toure, Tom Rogic and Nir Bitton will also be in the manager's thoughts.
Moussa Dembele and Scott Sinclair stepped off the bench to score late on at Victoria Park and it would be no surprise to see the pair start on Deeside as the Hoops look to extend their unbeaten league start to 10.
Regarding his squad rotation, Rodgers said: "I just felt with the games we had leading up to Wednesday night, plus the next three games after that, that it would put too much of a demand on the same players playing in those games.
"Especially when I have very good players who haven't been playing. It also gave me a chance to look at them away from home, away from the comfort of Celtic Park with 60,000 fans behind them.
"Could they cope, could they play with that intensity and pressure and they responded very, very well and it was pleasing from that respect."
Celtic have scored in each of their last 53 league meetings with Aberdeen - since a 2-0 defeat at Pittodrie in December 2001 - while top-scorer Dembele has 11 goals in his last 11 games.
Watch Aberdeen v Celtic in the Scottish Premiership live on Sky Sports 5 HD from 11.30am on Saturday.
