Signs suggest that Celtic will be under pressure in Aberdeen

The hard hat is on as I am about to do the unthinkable before a match.

And while, yes, I think that Celtic will win the Scottish Premiership and pull away when injured

players return to the first team, results and performances in February suggest that today offers Aberdeen an excellent chance of losing their “bottlers” tag at least for a day.

Those results do not make for impressive reading:

    Zenit St Petersburg 3 – 0 Celtic

    Celtic 0 – 0 St Johnstone

    Celtic 1 - 0 Zenit St Petersburg

    Celtic 3 - 0 Partick Thistle

    Kilmarnock 1 – 0 Celtic

Furthermore, the performances against Kilmarnock and St Johnstone were well below the standard we have come to expect while, against Partick Thistle, the defending was often atrocious.

So, less than 72 hours after playing in St Petersburg, it would be foolish to bet against the unthinkable – a Celtic defeat leaving us leading two teams by six points at the end of the day and newspaper headlines declaring that the title race is back on.

(Incidentally, it is ridiculous to expect a team to make the journey to Aberdeen so soon after flying back from Russia but that's the sort of support Scottish football gives to its European competitors.)

Today's will be one of the defining matches of the season. Any win will make an already improbable challenge from the Dons or The Rangers more than likely fizzle out.

A loss will see us heading to Ibrox in March with the prospect of the gap being closed to three points. That would certainly lead to unpleasantness and real pressure on the team

It's an unpleasant scenario but one that would not come as a shock.

But, for now, we keep the faith.
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