Saturday serves up the first of two FA Cup semi-finals as Aberdeen take on Celtic at Hampden Park.
Scottish Cup Semi
Although Aberdeen have announced Jimmy Thelin as their new manager, he will not be taking up the Pittodrie post until June.
New Aberdeen Manager
What a difference 10 days makes and after Rangers and Celtic played out a frenetic 3-3 draw at Ibrox, there was a sense that it was advantage Clement in the battle to be the man who oversees a Scottish Premiership title win.
Celtic still top after the six-goal thriller but having played a game more. Fast forward to where we are now and Celtic are still top with no game for their nearest rivals in hand to call upon and Rangers have wasted their opportunity to go top.
Defeat at Ross County then followed by a tame draw at Dundee and suddenly Brendan Rodgers’ men have a three-point lead in their possession and a better goal difference as well – which at this stage of the season can be considered an extra point in itself.
The Hoops sitting pretty before their Scottish Cup semi-final on Saturday and now they have one more hoop to jump through if they are to reach a second successive final. That hoop comes in the shape of Aberdeen and a Dons side that has finally announced a new permanent manager.
The man in question is Jimmy Thelin and with him taking IF Elfsborg to an unlikely second place in last season’s Swedish Allsvenskan – missing out on the title on goal difference alone, he has caught the attention of the Aberdeen board.
Progress finally made in the managerial department after the disaster which was Neil Warnock’s tour of Scotland but progress that has not been made soon enough for Thelin to take the managerial reins at Hampden.
The 46-year-old will not officially take his Aberdeen post until June and with the latest interim boss Peter Leven overseeing events at the weekend, he must also make sure that Thelin does not take charge of a Championship outfit.
With Ross County’s shock win over Rangers, the battle to avoid 11th place has now contracted and although Aberdeen have a five-point gap over the Dingwall outfit, those quintet of remaining games are against the other sides in the bottom half of the table.
Then again, the worries of the league can be put aside this weekend, as now the full focus of the cup is the primary concern for both Aberdeen and the cup holders that they go up against. Will it go the way it is expected to go or will there be an upset on the cards?
But now it is time for the first of my two tips and with Celtic being handed a fresh impetus in the league, I believe they will use that in knockout competition. The only real value is if Aberdeen can hold them at half time before losing at full time. This is the outcome I am backing at odds of 3/1.
In addition to this, I am going to lean on the first tip further and back a goalless draw at the interval. Only for Celtic to then go on and edge proceedings by a single goal. Heartbreak for Aberdeen, but jubilation for us that comes in the form of odds of 10/1 for a 1-0 win to the Hoops.
