Scott Brown insists Celtic will not be 'bullied' by Aberdeen as the pair square off at noon.

The Hoops are travelling north in the knowledge that they were defeated twice on their visits to Pittodrie last season.

Derek McInnes' men will be desperate not to let the visitors extend their lead over them to 10 points with a win, but Brown and his team are not ready to shy away from the battle they will surely face in the Granite City today.

He said: “Aberdeen are a great team. They have pace, good midfielders, good back four and a good goalie as well so it’s always hard to go up there.

“They try to play football. They try to bully you as well. We need to try and stand up for the physical battles then get the ball down and move it a lot quicker than they can.

“They’ve done really well up there against us for the last couple of seasons but we have a new manager with new belief and a new philosophy with the way we are playing, and we need to make sure we go out there and step up.

"They pushed us the last couple of seasons and they’ll push us again this season.

“We’re top of the league now and we want to be there from now until the end of the season. These are the games you need to go and win."

Brown is concious of what is at stake this afternoon. As well as a 10-point gap over Aberdeen, three points would also act as a springboard into next week's Champions League trip to Borussia Monchengladbach.

“It would be huge for us [to go 10 points clear] but you can’t go in there thinking you can just go to Aberdeen which is a hard place and take the three points," said the Celtic skipper.

“We’ve struggled up there in the past so here’s hoping it’s a positive result for us. We’re going to have to fight and scratch for everything up there because it’s always a hard place. It’s a great environment to play football as well and here’s hoping the pitch is good."