ABERDEEN have been handed what looks like a penalty kick to advance to the semi finals of the Premier Sports Cup when they entertain Spartans at Pittodrie.
Jimmy Thelin made it a perfect ten at the weekend although they had to dig deep in the end to see off Motherwell. The Swede's ten wins consists of five League Cup wins and five league wins.
Again, as has been pointed out by many, the fixture list couldn't have even kinder to Aberdeen had their chairman Dave Cormack personally written it, but by the same token, there's little doubt they would have dropped points and lost at least half of those games under Barry Robson.
They face League Two Spartans who have nothing to fear and have taken a couple of scalps this season including winning at newly-relegated Premiership side Livingston away to qualify and then defeating top flight Ross County at home.
Managed by Scottish football's longest-serving boss Dougie Samuel, who has been in charge of the capital outfit for 12 years, they warmed up for the game with a 1-0 win against Forfar Athletic at the weekend thanks to a last minute winner.
How the bookies view it: Dons huge favourites
Aberdeen are pretty much unbackable except on accas at 1/7 at best with UniBet. Spartans are 20/1 outsiders with 10Bet and the draw is 7/1, with Paddy Power.
Recent head to heads: First ever meeting
The clubs have never met, although Spartans have only been in the Scottish League for just over a season.
Players to watch: Papa is the daddy
Papa Gueye is currently the top scorer in the Scottish Premiership with five goals in five games and you would have got long odds on that at the start of the season. The Senegalese striker netted a fantastic goal against Motherwell at the weekend and is odds-on at 3/4 to score anytime with William Hill.
Spartans' talisman is Blair Henderson who is their goal machine having netted an impressive 27 goals in total last season and he's already on five for this season. He is 15/4 to score anytime with William Hill.
Predicted line-ups:
Aberdeen boss Jimmy Thelin is unlikely to make too many changes and will treat Spartans with the utmost respect.
Captain Graeme Shinnie was ill last week and Dante Polvara remains sidelined.
Spartans go into this with no new injury worries.
Aberdeen: Mitov, Devlin, Molloy, Rubezic, MacKenzie, Heltne Nilsen, Shinnie, Keskinen, Gueye, McGrath, Nisbet.
Spartans: Carswell, Booth, Waugh, Sonkur, Watson, Hunter, Craigen, Dishington, Whyte, Stowe, Henderson
Anything else catch the eye?
Expect Aberdeen to want to try and get this out to bed as early as possible but they face a Spartans side who are packed full of plenty of experience with the likes of Henderson, Paul Watson and James Craigen in there.
They are no mugs and will make it hard for Aberdeen to break them down.
The Dons have played comparable, if better opposition, in Dumbarton and Queen's Park recently and took advantage in the second half.
It was goalless at half time in both games and it could be that the hosts step it up after the break with plenty of options from the bench too.
Take a punt on this being a draw at half time and a home win at full time at 13/5 with bet365.
Spartans don't tend to score a lot of goals though and the Dons defence – and their excellent keeper Dimitar Mitov – are much improved this season.
Back them at a solid 8/11 to win to nil with Boylesports.
This Scottish League Cup match between Aberdeen and The Spartans will be played on Sep 21, 2024 and kick off at 17:30. Check below for our tipsters best Aberdeen vs The Spartans prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
