Defender Nicky Devlin was the player who spoke to the media to preview the William Hill Premiership fixture against Celtic on Wednesday night at Pittodrie.
“It is the two teams at the top of the table. It is a big game and it is a game we want to try and win. We are under no illusions of how difficult it is going to be as well. They are coming up here in good form.
“They are a very good team, they have shown that in Europe this season. We know they can put in very good performances. The semi-final showed that if we are not at it, they are capable of making it a long night for us.
“But we are at home, and we have had a good home record this year. We want to keep that going. We want to focus on ourselves. The manager has stressed that since he came in. He wants us to focus on how Aberdeen do and if we can get to the levels he wants us to, if we can play at our best, then I am sure it will be an enjoyable game.
“We are coming off the back of three games when we did not get a win, so we know things can turn very quickly. I understand why people want to build this game up, but the manager does not let us even think about Saturday, never mind what might happen come the end of the season. We are just fully focused on this game.
“The three away games, you don’t usually get three fixtures like that during a season. It was difficult. Do get me wrong, we are disappointed with the points tally we took from the three games but it was three difficult venues, and three venues that most teams will struggle to pick up points at. So I would not say that it has dampened the spirit in the dressing room. The boys are still in a good place.
“Before the semi-final we had drawn three games with Celtic over 90 minutes. So we don’t dwell too much on what happened at Hampden. Yes we can learn lessons from that day, but the manager does not let us get too high or too low after any game.
“We look forward to playing at Pittodrie. We know how important the fans can be for us. We know that they have helped get us over the line in numerous games this season. We are going to need that again. Hopefully we can put in a performance that allows them to get behind us from the start.”
