Third faces second in the Scottish Premiership as Aberdeen welcome Rangers to Pittodrie on Sunday afternoon.

While the Dons are seeking to claim their fifth successive home victory in the top flight, the Gers are hoping to avoid back-to-back away league defeats for the first time since the beginning of 2020.

Match preview

Aberdeen extended their winning run in the Premiership to six matches after securing a slender 1-0 away victory against Ross County last Friday.

The Dons only registered one shot on target throughout the 90 minutes in Dingwall, but a 17th-minute strike from in-form striker Duk was enough to collect maximum points.

Only Celtic (12) boast a longer ongoing winning run in the top flight than Aberdeen (six) who have climbed up to third in the table, capitalising on a miserable run of seven straight defeats by Hearts who have slipped to fourth and five points adrift of the Dons.

Barry Robson is now tasked with leading his team to victory against a Rangers side whom they have failed to beat in each of their last 14 league meetings, losing 10 times and drawing the other four.

Aberdeen managed to hold the Gers to a 1-1 draw in 90 minutes during their League Cup semi-final in January, before ultimately losing 2-1 in extra time, but the Dons can take positives from their performance at Hamden Park and their recent winning league run ahead of Sunday's battle at Pittodrie.

After suffering a 3-2 defeat away against Old Firm rivals Celtic, Rangers returned to winning ways with a 5-2 victory at home against St Mirren last weekend.

Despite missing a first-half penalty and seeing goals from Todd Cantwell and Fashion Sakala cancelled out by a Mark O'Hara brace, the Gers eventually fought back to claim maximum points after scoring three goals in the space of five second-half minutes towards the end of the match through Alfredo Morelos (2) and Scott Arfield.

Michael Beale's side have now won 25 of their 32 Premiership matches this season, but they still sit 12 points behind champions-elect Celtic, who require just seven more points to retain the title.

Rangers will lock horns with Celtic in the Scottish Cup semi-finals at the end of this month, but will first turn their attention to Sunday's Premiership clash at Pittodrie where they are unbeaten in 10 league visits against Aberdeen.

The Gers secured all three points in a dramatic 3-2 away victory over the Dons in December, a game in which Beale's side were trailing to 2-1 heading into the fifth minute of second-half stoppage time before Arfield netted a two-minute brace to turn the game on its head in remarkable fashion.

Team News

Aberdeen captain Graeme Shinnie will serve a four-match suspension after his appeal against his red card versus Ross County was rejected by a Scottish FA tribunal – a decision that has angered both the Dons and PFA Scotland.

The absence of Shinnie will likely see Ylber Ramadani start in centre-midfield alongside Leighton Clarkson and Ryan Duncan, while fellow midfielder Callum Roberts, who has been sidelined since January with a hamstring injury, is set to miss out again this weekend.

Top scorer Duk, who has found the net six times in his last five matches, is expected to continue in attack alongside Bojan Miovski, who scored in the 2-1 League Cup semi-final loss to Rangers earlier this year.

As for Rangers, Beale has confirmed that Connor Goldson and Ryan Kent remain sidelined with knocks, but the duo will return to face Celtic next weekend.

Ryan Jack, Tom Lawrence, Kemar Roofe, Filip Helander and Ridvan Yilmaz are also unavailable due to injury, the former of whom is sidelined for three to four weeks with a knee problem, while Antonio Colak (calf) is "touch and go" and will be assessed ahead of kickoff.

James Tavernier, who missed from the penalty spot against St Mirren last weekend, has scored a total of 12 goals against Aberdeen, including 10 penalties, and the right-back will lead the Gers out as captain on Sunday, joining John Souttar, Ben Davies and Borna Barisic in the back four.

Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Roos; Pollock, MacDonald, Scales; McCrorie, Duncan, Clarkson, Ramadani, Hayes; Miovski, Duk

Rangers possible starting lineup:
McGregor; Tavernier, Souttar, Davies, Barisic; Lundstram, Raskin; Cantwell, Tillman, Sakala; Morelos

We say: Aberdeen 1-2 Rangers

Aberdeen have gone from strength to strength in recent weeks and their upturn in form will provide them with plenty of confidence in securing their first league win over Rangers since December 2018.

However, the Gers will not want to hand Celtic a title boost with a slip-up at Pittodrie and Beale's side should do enough to edge a tight contest on Sunday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

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