And so the acid test arrives. Aberdeen head to Celtic Park with their 100% start to the season on the line but with a real opportunity to make a serious statement.
It is clearly the toughest assignment Scottish football has to offer, and if the Dons were able to snap a 25-game winless sequence against the champions in their own back yard then there will have to be a conversation about just how far this team can go this season.
Firstly, no matter how well or poorly Aberdeen are doing, Celtic are always up for this fixture – and despite the spectre of a crucial Champions League date with Atalanta in Italy just a few days later, it’s unlikely Brendan Rodgers and his players will be taking their eye off the ball.
The Dons’ last win over the green and white side of the city actually came at Parkhead and it came against a Rodgers team, albeit after they had secured the second title of his first tenure.
It also allowed Derek McInnes to seal second spot for a fourth straight season as Pittodrie manager.
That match remains one of just two that Rodgers has lost at home domestically, with the other being Hearts’ success there last December.
The 25 games without a victory is easily the worst in the history of this fixture, the previous record had been 18, while Aberdeen have only kept four clean sheets in the last 119 meetings.
And while those are live records, this is a clean slate for the club when taking on Celtic as Jimmy Thelin looks to take the excitement level in the Granite City to fever pitch.
The Swede doesn’t bare the scars of his predecessors and under Peter Leven, they ran Celtic to within a penalty of beating them at Hampden in last season’s Scottish Cup semi-final.
The Dons also have plenty pace in their squad and that will be needed at times, plus it would be no surprise to see Ante Palaversa joining Sivert Heltne Nilsen and captain Graeme Shinnie in a beefed up midfield with the intention of not allowing Callum McGregor, Reo Hatate and Arne Engels to dictate play.
Regardless of what happens, the progression at Pittodrie right now is there for all to see, and with home games against Dundee Utd and Rangers following this one, it could be quite the fortnight.
