DEREK McInnes wants a good week to end as one of his best since becoming Aberdeen manager.

His team battled their way to the Betfred League Cup final at Easter Road and today they could, at long last, beat Celtic in Glasgow in a game which really counts.

McInnes enjoyed a rare win at Parkhead on the final game of last season but the title had long gone by then.

Now, with Celtic hardly at their best, this just might be the time for Aberdeen to do what the great team of the 1980s would on a regular basis and that is winning at Celtic Park.

McInnes said: "I think it’s been a good week until now and a brilliant week would be getting the result at Celtic Park.

“I sat here last week and talked about the importance of the three games. The first one was three points against Motherwell, getting through the cup tie and now trying to deal with Celtic, which is always difficult.

"I’m pleased with getting through the tie and I’m pleased with a lot of what we’re getting from the players. Good resilience, a decent level of performance and we’re still searching for those perfect performances and we’re working towards that. Hopefully by getting one or two back in the next two weeks will help as well.

“With two clean sheets in a row now, I think if we’re going to get a result our defensive part of the game has to be really strong again.

We won last time out there at Celtic Park and we know it can be done, but we’re well aware of the challenge. "

McInnes has not been fooled by Celtic's so-called slow poor start.

He said: "A lot has been made of Celtic’s start and it goes with the territory when big clubs don’t win games, but it’s very early in the season for people to be writing people off and, for me, Celtic are still the team to beat.

"They’ve got a manager and the players who have done it time and time again. A lot of the questions have been a bit premature, but understandably when they don’t win games the criticism comes. They are a top side full of top players and I think our players will relish the challenge."