Aberdeen vs Dundee United
Aberdeen will play host to Dundee United at the Pittodrie Stadium in their opening 2021/22 Scottish Premiership fixture.
Aberdeen head into proceedings on the back of a 5-3 aggregate success over Swedish outfit Hacken in the Europa Conference League qualifying (5-1 H, 0-2 A). Aberdeen’s 2020/21 Premiership campaign ended with a whimper rather than a bang, with the ‘Dons’ losing their final two league fixtures by an aggregate score of 5-0. Before going down 3-0 in their most recent competitive H2H on home turf, Stephen Glass’ side had gone unbeaten in their four previous home encounters against this opposition (W3, D1). At home, the ‘Dandies’ have picked up just two victories within regulation time in their last nine fixtures in all competitions (D4, L3), with two-thirds of those games seeing one or both teams failing to find the back of the net.
On the other hand, the visitors must be full of confidence after winning each of their four League Cup matches by an aggregate score of 9-1 to start the new competitive season on a high note. Dundee’s form at the beginning of the new season comes as a notable turnaround on their performances from the final stretch of 2020/21. Indeed, the ‘Terrors’ finished the last competitive campaign on a four-game winless streak (D2, L2), a sequence that saw them draw a blank on three occasions. Curiously, Tam Courts’ men have avoided defeat in their last three top-flight meetings with Aberdeen (W1, D2), with each of those clashes seeing one or both sides fail to score in games garnering under 1.5 total goals.