Derek McInnes has told his Aberdeen players to focus on Motherwell in a message delivered "loud and clear" ahead of next week's Betfred Cup final.
The Dons travel to Fir Park on Saturday looking for their fifth-successive win, the fourth in the Ladbrokes Premiership.
A visit to Hampden Park to take on holders Celtic in the Betfred Cup final awaits the Pittodrie side on December 2 but McInnes warned his players that he wants to be travelling to Glasgow with three more points in the bag.
He told REDTV: "It's an important three points and I don't see this as a fixture that's in the way before a cup final. It's as important a three points as we've had.
"You cannot play with an eye on the next game. There's no way you can bring a top performance if you're thinking about something else.
"If you're trying to protect yourself for another game it doesn't happen and if you don't play well you're in danger of injury and the message will be loud and clear to the players, we've got to deal with this.
"We want to try to play cup football every game we play and try to play the game in the right manner to give the players the best chance of a result. If we don't, we end up losing the game and soul searching.
"Players have got an opportunity tomorrow to promote themselves ahead of the cup final and that message will be clear.
"We want to go try and win the game and to do that you've got to be at your most aggressive and have all the thoughts only on that game."
McInnes confirmed that defender Michael Devlin would miss the Motherwell game with a tendon injury and faces a race to be fit for Hampden.
He said: "He's got a shot at it but I think he's up against it. Naturally when I took the phone call – when Mikey pulled up in training the night before – it was initially feared he'd be out for a considerable time.
"It's a little tendon injury and we thought it had come off the bone, but on the scan it was more of a little tear and it's an injury that can heel pretty quickly and respond well to treatment, but we might just run out of time with it.
"He's out for tomorrow and he's got a lot to do to be ready for the cup final."
Motherwell were thrashed 7-1 by Rangers at Ibrox in their last outing but McInnes is reading little into that result.
He said: "We're expecting a tough game, but it's important from my point of view that Motherwell get a very tough game tomorrow.
"I'm not wanting to second guess their team too much and get bogged down on what they may or may not do.
"We know when they are at their best what they're capable of and I just want to make sure our team delivers something we're capable of."
