Dundee vs Aberdeen Predictions

A struggling Aberdeen side face an away trip as they are hosted by Dundee at Dens Park on Saturday. Can the Dons make it through to the next round?

Dundee come into this tie after a strong start to their Championship season as they aim at a return to the Premiership. The Dee narrowly beat Ayr United 1-0 at home last week, thanks to a 74^th minute Andy Nelson strike that allowed Jim McPake’s side to continue competing with city-rivals Dundee United, who top the second division.

Dundee drew their initial game 2-2 with Dunfermline after being 2-0 up in the 35^th minute, and it was the side’s 3^rd draw in 4 games. McPake’s men also cruised to the top of their League Cup group thanks to a couple of wins against Raith Rovers and Inverness CT, as well as two of the aforementioned draws, earning a bonus point from each fixture in the process.

Aberdeen’s results in the last week have been nothing but terrible following their exit from the Europa League after playing the return leg against Rijeka. Derek McInnes’ side had a complicated 2-0 deficit to overturn at Pittodrie, and it was crucial that the Croatian side didn’t get an away goal to maximize the Dons’ chances.

That notion lasted all but 10 minutes, as Stjepan Lončar put the visitors 1-0 up, meaning that Aberdeen had to score a whopping 4 goals to overturn the scoreline. Rijeka sealed the deal before half-time, with Antonio- Mirko Čolak scoring the 2^nd and making it virtually impossible for McInnes’ men to progress.

Dundee will more than likely want to focus on making a return to the Scottish Premiership, but a good cup run is quite uplifting and their recent form, in this competition especially, has been positive overall. Aberdeen’s last 3 games have all ended in defeat, so the Dons will be extremely keen to get over their European exit and fully focus on trying to catch up with both Celtic and Rangers at the top of the table, although seeing some of their most recent performances it’ll be hard for the Pittodrie side to keep up with the Glasgow clubs.

We’re going to back an upset in the shape of a Dundee win for this tie as Aberdeen’s recent results- paired with the fact they haven’t scored once in their last 3 games- means that they aren’t in the best shape right now. We’re also going for a final score of 1-0 to the home side, as they haven’t conceded in their last 4 home ties, whilst only scoring once in those games.