Preview: Dunfermline Athletic vs Aberdeen - prediction, team news, lineups

Dunfermline Athletic welcome holders Aberdeen to East End Park on Saturday night for a Scottish FA Cup quarter-final clash.

The hosts defeated Kelty Hearts in the last round to reach this stage, while the visitors progressed past Motherwell in their fifth round tie.

Match preview

Dunfermline Athletic have enjoyed a largely positive 2025-26 campaign to date, with the Pars currently battling for promotion to the Scottish Premiership and into the latter stages of the Scottish FA Cup.

Neil Lennon's side have won 10, drawn six and lost 11 of their 27 Scottish Championship fixtures, leaving them in the playoff positions in fourth with 36 points - although fifth-placed Ayr United are only two points behind and with a game in hand.

Following a concerning run of three straight defeats in January and the beginning of February, Dunfermline Athletic have returned to form in their recent outings.

Dunfermline have now won each of their last two games, beating Queen's Park 1-0 and Ross County 3-0, leaving them in far greater confidence heading into this Scottish FA Cup clash.

Dunfermline Athletic booked their place in the quarter-finals with victories over Queen of The South (2-1), Hibernian (1-0) and Kelty Hearts (2-0).

Meanwhile, Aberdeen are enduring a miserable run of results coming into this quarter-final, suffering five defeats and recording only one draw and one win in their last seven games across all competitions.

The sole victory came in this competition, with the Dons impressive beating Motherwell 2-0 in the Scottish FA Cup fifth round, ensuring Aberdeen's place in the quarter-finals.

As the Dons are now confirmed to be out of the top six race in the Scottish Premiership, trailing sixth-placed Falkirk by 13 points with just 12 points left to play for before the split, Peter Leven will be hoping his side can at least enjoy some success in this competition.

Aberdeen do have a fantastic record in this competition, remaining undefeated since the 2023-24 semi-finals, including sensationally lifted the Scottish FA Cup trophy last season.

The Dons scored an 83rd-minute equaliser in last term's final against Celtic, sending the game to extra-time and penalties, which Aberdeen superbly won 5-3.

Hoping to secure the win on Saturday and go one step closer to defending their crown, Aberdeen will be eager to replicate their 2-0 triumph from the last time these two sides met in February 2025.

Dunfermline Athletic Scottish Cup form:

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Dunfermline Athletic form (all competitions):

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Aberdeen Scottish Cup form:

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Team News

Callumn Morrison has scored three goals in Dunfermline's last two outings, and the forward should continue alongside Olly Thomas and Matty Todd in attack.

Further back, an unchanged defence of Kieran Ngwenya, Kyle Benedictus and Freddie Turley should start.

As for Aberdeen, Tom McIntyre, Mats Knoester, Nicholas Suman and Kristers Tobers are unavailable due to injury issues.

Kevin Nisbet scored Aberdeen's second goal in the 2-0 triumph over Motherwell in the last round, and the striker should lead the line against Dunfermline on Saturday.

Dunfermline Athletic possible starting lineup:

Oxborough; Turley, Benedictus, Ngwenya; Kearney, Amade, Hamilton, Bray; Todd; Morrison, Thomas

Aberdeen possible starting lineup:

Bratveit; Devlin, Milne, Molloy, Frame; Milanovic, Cameron, Shinnie, Armstrong, Keskinen; Nisbet

We say: Dunfermline Athletic 1-3 Aberdeen

Dunfermline may be in better form than their visitors, but Aberdeen have a superb record in this competition and will be extremely motivated to move one step closer to defending their Scottish FA Cup crown.

Alongside Aberdeen's superior quality throughout the squad, we are backing the holders to win this one.

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