Partick Thistle manager Alan Archibald isn’t fooled by those who are writing off Aberdeen as Premiership title challengers, warning his players that the Dons are stronger than ever.

Archibald takes his side to Pittodrie tomorrow, and he is braced for a tough afternoon despite Aberdeen failing to score so far in their two league outings this season.

He isn’t surprised that the media spotlight around Derek McInnes’s men has faded due to the return of Rangers to the top-flight, but he thinks that flying under the radar may work in their favour.

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He is hoping though that the inevitable breaking of Aberdeen’s scoring duck doesn’t come against his men tomorrow.

“There will be less focus on Aberdeen from the media this season due to Rangers being in the Premiership but I don’t think that will bother them,” Archibald said.

“Derek’s made some great signings. He probably realised that he had been relying too much on Johnny Hayes, Niall McGinn and Adam Rooney and he’s strengthened that area of his squad.

“I was just saying to our players that they now have multiple options up front so I won’t be surprised if they aren’t too far away again.

“Perhaps it might even suit them if they don’t get as much attention. They did brilliantly last season, although there was some negativity towards the end when threw a few games away after the split.

“But they had a great run at the start and Derek’s done a fantastic job there. We got a point at Pittodrie last year and we’re hoping to do similar or better this time out but we know we’ll need to be at our best to do that.

“They haven’t scored yet in the league but they’ve done it in Europe and I saw them down at Ayr. Plus the sides they drew with – Hearts and St Johnstone – are two of the best.

“Derek’s been mixing it up and playing a different line-up in almost every game so this will be a real test for us.

“We ran them close at Firhill last term, too. Stevie Lawless scored a wonder goal for us but then we switched off at a free-kick. However, we know that we can compete with them.

“The top four in the division are better than everyone else but we can still give them a game.”

Archibald says his players are desperate to get back out on the pitch after their enforced hiatus last weekend.

“We can’t wait – it’s been a long 10 days for us, especially after that defeat at Tannadice,” he said. “We gave the players the weekend off and we’ve been building up to this one.

“It was an off night for about 10 of our players, which is surprising. But we watched it again and picked the bones out of it and they were honest enough to admit that.

“Nobody was slaughtered afterwards because everyone was as bad as each other. Now we’re facing the team who came second last season and we know we won’t get away with half of those mistakes.

“We’d been going really well up until then so it was a real surprise.”

Despite being upset over the postponement of the Celtic match last Saturday, Archibald admits that the lay-off has had some benefits for his injury list.

“Tomas Cerny had been struggling with a foot injury so the rest has helped him,” he said. “Ryan Scully also got a knock in the tie against Dundee United.

“Liam Lindsay was also carrying an injury but they’ve all benefited from the time off and should be involved against Aberdeen."