Celtic started their title defence last week against St Mirren – the team who held them to a draw in the final game of the last Premiership campaign.
Having this time overcome the stubborn Buddies thanks to a late goal, Brendan Rodgers’ side will next hope to also gain some kind of revenge over the team who denied them a domestic treble in the season’s finale at Hampden.
Like Celtic, the Scottish Cup winners are playing only their second match of the season. The first ended in a 2-0 defeat by Heart of Midlothian.
Aberdeen had headed to Edinburgh with their fans believing they had strengthened thanks to Jimmy Thelin’s summer rebuild. Celtic, on the other hand, arrive at Pittodrie with some among their support suggesting their squad is, if anything, weaker than the one which lost in that Scottish Cup final.
However, the Hampden penalty shoot-out win apart, Aberdeen’s record against Celtic is fairly horrendous and they had not beaten the Glasgow side in their 30 previous meetings.
Rodgers’ team were ruthless at Pittodrie on their last visit in May – their second 5-1 scoreline against the Dons in a row and their second win there in succession.
Indeed, Celtic have not lost in 17 visits to Aberdeen since a 2-1 defeat in February 2016 and, despite the cup final setback and questions about summer recruitment, will be favourites to win their opening away league game for a fourth successive season.
