Third faces fourth as Hibernian travel to Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership this Friday night, with the hope of extending their lead from the Dons to four points.
Meanwhile, Aberdeen secured a point in an entertaining 3-3 draw with Celtic, before losing 2-0 to the Hoops last weekend in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Match preview
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Derek McInnes was hoping to build on an impressive performance in their thrilling 3-3 draw with Celtic, with a strong showing in their Scottish Cup semi-final against the Hoops.
However, the Dons lacked a clinical edge in the final third – with only one shot on target from 15 attempts on goal – which led to the reigning champions securing a 2-0 victory at Hampden Park.
McInnes though will only see this result as a slight blip in their campaign which has been mostly positive so far.
The Dons have picked up seven wins from 11 Scottish Premiership matches, including a narrow 1-0 victory over Friday's opponents Hibs at the end of August.
A win for Aberdeen would see them leapfrog Hibernian into third place, level on points with Celtic in second who have a game in hand.
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Like Aberdeen, Hibernian were unable to secure their place in the Scottish Cup final last weekend after a 2-1 defeat to Edinburgh rivals Hearts.
Striker Christian Doidge scored his 100th career goal but that was not enough to see the Scottish Premiership side overcome their Scottish Championship foes.
Victory at Hampden Park would have capped off a brilliant end to October for Jack Ross' side, who have started their 2020-21 campaign brightly.
Hibernian have picked up 24 points from 12 matches in the top flight, losing only twice to Celtic and this weekend's opponents Aberdeen.
The Edinburgh outfit have also impressed in the Scottish League Cup, where they sit top of Group B with a perfect record after three matches.
Hibs will be hoping to bounce back from last weekend's disappointment with their third league victory in four matches.
Aberdeen Scottish Premiership form: LWWDWD
Aberdeen form (all competitions): WWDWDL
Hibernian Scottish Premiership form: WDLWDW
Hibernian form (all competitions): WWWDWL
Team News
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Aberdeen defender Michael Devlin (hamstring), and midfielder Dean Campbell (foot) remain sidelined with injuries.
Midfielder Lewis Ferguson, who scored two penalties in Aberdeen's 3-3 draw with Celtic, is set to remain in the starting XI alongside Ross McCrorie and Dylan McGeouch.
Striker Sam Cosgrove is also likely to remain in the starting lineup after playing over an hour in the Dons' 2-0 defeat last weekend.
Forward Curtis Main will be pushing to make his first start of the season after recently coming back from a thigh injury.
The match at Pittodrie is likely to be too soon for Hibernian's midfield pair Drey Wright and Scott Allan, who are set to remain sidelined with injuries.
Winger Jamie Murphy could start for Hibs on the left-wing if he has fully recovered from his hamstring injury, which may well see midfielder Kyle Magennis drop to the bench.
Striking duo Christian Doidge and Kevin Nisbet, who have a combined total of 10 league goals between them this campaign, are likely to start together in attack.
Aberdeen possible starting lineup:
Lewis; Hoban, Taylor, Considine; Hedges, Ferguson, McGeouch, McCrorie, Hayes; Cosgrove, Watkins
Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Marciano; McGinn, Porteous, Hanlon, Doig; Boyle, Gogic, Newell, Murphy; Nisbet, Doidge
We say: Aberdeen 2-1 Hibernian
Both sides will be looking to bounce back from their Scottish Cup semi-final exits with victory in the league. Aberdeen have won five of their last seven meetings with Hibs and with strikers Sam Cosgrove and Curtis Main returning to the side, the Dons should have enough firepower in attack to take the three points at Pittodrie.
Top betting tip
Our expert tipster partners at Sporita.com are predicting over 1.5 goals in this match. Click here to find out what else they are predicting for this game and for more of their tried-and-tested football tips.Over 1.5:data
Oliver Thomas
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Aberdeen win with a probability of 40.41%. A win for Hibernian had a probability of 31.99% and a draw had a probability of 27.6%.
The most likely scoreline for an Aberdeen win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.73%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-1 (8.34%) and 2-0 (7.53%). The likeliest Hibernian win was 0-1 (10.14%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (13.01%). The actual scoreline of 2-0 was predicted with a 7.5% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Aberdeen would win this match.
