Hibs and Hearts would be the two clubs expected to be challenging Aberdeen for a top three spot.
Instead, the two capital clubs are fighting with each other to stay off the Premiership’s bottom spot.
Jimmy Thelin’s side look nailed on for at least third and could even go one better and pip Rangers to second, currently only two points behind Celtic.
They face a test now though after losing their first league team to St Mirren and their attempts to bounce back come with two games in Edinburgh this week.
Aberdeen boss Thelin on Hibs
The first of those is at Easter Road against Hibs this evening.
It is a fixture that should see two of Scotland’s heavyweights going at each other but clearly the Dons are coming up against a struggling side which is low in confidence.
After defeat to Dundee, David Gray’s side are winless in eight games and the Dens Park debacle was their latest capitulation from a winning position.
Jimmy Thelin isn’t reading too much into that though and prefers to focus on his own team in any case.
| Position | Team | Played MP | Won W | Drawn D | Lost L | For GF | Against GA | Diff GD | Points Pts |
| 1 |  CelticCeltic | 12 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 35 | 4 | 31 | 34 |
| 2 |  AberdeenAberdeen | 12 | 10 | 1 | 1 | 25 | 12 | 13 | 31 |
| 3 |  RangersRangers | 12 | 7 | 2 | 3 | 17 | 9 | 8 | 23 |
| 4 |  Dundee UtdDundee Utd | 13 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 5 | 20 |
| 5 |  MotherwellMotherwell | 12 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 16 | 16 | 0 | 19 |
| 6 |  ST MirrenST Mirren | 14 | 5 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 23 | -4 | 18 |
| 7 |  DundeeDundee | 13 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 22 | 25 | -3 | 15 |
| 8 |  Ross CountyRoss County | 14 | 3 | 6 | 5 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 15 |
| 9 |  ST JohnstoneST Johnstone | 14 | 4 | 1 | 9 | 17 | 27 | -10 | 13 |
| 10 |  KilmarnockKilmarnock | 13 | 3 | 3 | 7 | 15 | 26 | -11 | 12 |
| 11 |  Heart Of MidlothianHeart Of Midlothian | 14 | 2 | 3 | 9 | 15 | 24 | -9 | 9 |
| 12 |  HibernianHibernian | 13 | 1 | 5 | 7 | 12 | 22 | -10 | 8 |
He said: “No, personally I don’t believe in these things. I think it is better to focus on what we can do.
“I don’t know how they are going to prepare themselves, maybe they use this to also try to be better, etc.
“For us it is more important what we do and don’t think about their situation. I know their manager is probably a really hard worker and they are going to try to find solutions.
“The most important thing for me is how we want to act.”
Thelin’s Aberdeen focus
Aberdeen need to ensure they bounce back from what has been their only real setback in the league this term, a draw at Celtic their only blemish before that.
What do they focus on to make sure of that?
Thelin explains: “What we want to build into our DNA, how we want to act in certain situations. How we want to start a game away against a difficult team.
“So those were the things have to focus on in the first 20 minutes of the game.
“Then the game went how it went and we did some good things in the second half.
“We had some parts of good momentum, but sometimes the ball goes in and sometimes it doesn’t, but also St Mirren did some good things in the transition and created situations from that.
“So we have to keep moving and think about the next game and then we leave that behind.
“But we have to just talk about the first 20 minutes because that was not the way we wanted to act as a team.”