Dundee United will look to continue impressive form against a virus-hit Aberdeen.
These sides met four times across the 2025/26 season and were evenly matched. Dundee United won the opening meeting 2-0 at home, with goals from Dolcek and Esselink. The second and third meetings both ended in draws—1-1 at Pittodrie and 0-0 at Tannadice. And the final meeting between the sides finished 2-0 to Stephen Robinson’s side, courtesy of a strike from former United man Armstrong and a late goal from Olusanya. The Dons have failed to win at Tannadice in their previous four attempts since March 2023. A wonder goal from Duk was cancelled out by a McGrath penalty before McCrorie and Watkins scored in the final ten minutes to give Aberdeen all three points.
Since losing to Motherwell in early September, Jim Goodwin’s side are unbeaten in their last four matches, picking up a last-minute point against Falkirk, dismantling St Mirren in Paisley, piling the misery on Hibs in a 1-0 win, and picking up a point against a solid St Johnstone side.
The Dons have only lost one of their last six matches, which included progression to the semi-finals of the League Cup—beating Kilmarnock on penalties, an impressive 4-0 win away at Motherwell, and, in their last match, an important 3-1 home win against St Mirren, which came after a disappointing home defeat to St Johnstone.
There’s not much to separate the sides in terms of the league table. United sit in sixth place, on twelve points, while Aberdeen sit in seventh, just one point behind United.
Jim Goodwin has confirmed that duo Lachlan Rose and Mehdi Merghem are both doubts ahead of this weekend’s match against Aberdeen.
Goodwin said: “Lachie Rose came on as a sub but unfortunately rolled his ankle a wee bit, and it is off his feet at the moment.
“Thankfully we don’t think it’s anything too serious. The rest of the guys are good after the weekend. Mehdi isn’t back in training yet; he’s in a good place mentally and physically but needs a little bit more time.
“We will push him and see if we can get him back involved for the weekend. If he doesn’t make this one, then I’d be confident he’ll be back for the next one.”
Aberdeen boss Stephen Robinson also has an injury concern of his own. Brad Lyons was taken off at halftime in Aberdeen’s 3-1 win over St Mirren; however, the midfielder, who netted the opening goal on Saturday in sensational fashion, admitted that despite feeling pain in his knee, the substitution was a precaution.
Lyons stated:
“Unfortunately my knee flared up, and I just wasn’t one hundred percent for the second half. You can’t be selfish because there are a lot of quality players raring to go.
“The season is a full squad effort, and you need players coming off the bench to get three points. Fingers crossed I’ll be ready for Saturday; it was just a precaution coming off because I felt it a wee bit. I should be fine for the weekend.”
In continuation, Aberdeen have been hit with a virus, which has ruled various key players out of Saturday’s clash.
Robinson said: “We have had a virus going through the club at the moment; a lot of the players have had it, and some more are reporting in with it today.
“The plan I had already changed this morning, so we’ll just have to wait. The boys who have had the virus already, we’ll have to assess if they’re fit enough to play.
“It might be that you’d be fit enough to go back behind a desk, but running around for ninety minutes at the top of your game would be difficult.”
