Micah Richards and Gary Lineker discuss whether Aberdeen can challenge Celtic and Rangers

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As well as Celtic’s impressive start to the season, much of the media headlines have been discussing Aberdeen’s start under new boss, Jimmy Thelin.

Aberdeen are currently sitting second to Celtic at the top of the Scottish Premiership table on goal difference and will face Brendan Rodgers’ team in the semi-final of the League Cup in November.

The Dons also have a striker in Papa Gueye who knows where the back of the net is after hitting five goals in the SPFL this season.

But Celtic also have Adam Idah and Kyogo Furuhashi as well as the likes of Callum McGregor and Arne Engels all chipping in on the goalscoring front.

So whilst having Jimmy Thelin’s men offering an early season challenge to both Celtic and Rangers, can they sustain it over the course of a full football calendar?

Aberdeen’s ‘refreshing’ challenge to Celtic and Rangers

Speaking on The Rest is Football, Gary Lineker and Micah Richards discussed whether or not Aberdeen can keep up their form and stay close to Celtic.

According to Lineker, it would be ‘refreshing’ for Scottish football.

Lineker: “Well, they’re absolutely flying. Aberdeen, since they brought him in. They’ve got Papa Gueye, who I think is their top scorer.

“Can they maintain it? We’ll have to wait and see. He [Jimmy Thelin] does like playing a high press.”

Richards: “I’ll be totally honest I’ve only seen highlights of the games. I did a bit of research yesterday and like you said, Gary, he wants to play attacking football.

“He takes risks at the right times and free-flowing football. That is sort of his ethos. And I haven’t seen him play live this season so I don’t want to lie to people.

“I’ve literally watched an hour of their football yesterday and they do look impressive. Whether they can keep it going for the whole season, I’m not entirely sure, but it’s a great start.”

“And you know what happens? It’s like the Leicester thing, isn’t it? Once you win that many games, you get that confidence, you think, it’s sort of like Leverkusen last season where they just go on a run, you start to believe.

“And good luck to them because it’d be nice up in Scotland if they could shake it up a little bit, you know?

“We’re always talking about Rangers and Celtic, so it’d be nice for Aberdeen.”

Lineker: “It would be refreshing.”

Can Aberdeen realistically challenge Celtic?

History would suggest that Aberdeen’s early season form will fizzle out and Celtic will remain dominant this season.

However, in Jimmy Thelin, the Dons have a manager who has impressed in his short managerial career so far.

Thelin guided IFK Goteborg to fourth place in the Swedish second-tier which was their highest league place finish since 1976.

He also led Jönköpings Södra IF to promotion to the Allsvenskan after winning the Superettan in 2015 before being appointed boss of Elfsborg in 2018 where Thelin just lost out on the title on goal difference to Malmo last season.

So Aberdeen undoubtedly have a manager who has the ability to challenge Celtic and Rangers but do they have the quality and depth in their squad? Time will tell.