Aberdeen get the game under way, their traditional all red glowing in the northern sunshine.

Who will shine brightest after 90 minutes?

Tyrone Smith
BBC Scotland at Pittodrie

By their own high standards, it has been a really poor start to the season for Rangers, epitomised by their midweek Conference League exit at the hands of Czech side Jablonec.

Alarm bells appear to be starting to ring among the Rangers fans – manager Derek McInnes knows the only way to stop them is to get his team in a winning groove – Pittodrie would be a good place to start.

As for Aberdeen, given everything I have just highlighted above, there will be many who feel their visitors are there for the taking.

The Dons will be feeling pretty positive having made a reasonably solid start to the campaign.

Here come the sides out the tunnel into a packed and sunny Pittodrie.

Aberdeen against Rangers is usually a fiery fixture that Ibrox boss Derek McInnes knows all about.

With so much pressure on both managers, it is almost bound to be another.

There were signs that Aberdeen are finding their feet under Stephen Robinson as they eased aside Dundee 3-0 last time out in the Premier Sports Cup last 16.

Indeed, despite some Aberdeen fans still not taking to the Northern Irishman, they have won all four home games so far this season.

However, Rangers are unbeaten in their latest six meetings with the Dons, winning the latest 4-1 at Ibrox in March against a side managed by Robinson after a 2-0 win at Pittodrie in January before he arrived from St Mirren.

A trip to his former club is probably the last thing Derek McInnes wanted as pressure piles on the new Rangers manager.

The former Hearts manager has lost five of his past six away league games against Aberdeen, including the latest three in a row since a 1-0 win with Kilmarnock in December 2023.

Rangers' 5-1 thrashing of St Mirren in their Premier Sports Cup last 16 tie looks to have just been papering over the cracks as Derek McInnes' side then lost their Conference League play-off to Czech side Jabalonec.

That came after their Europa League loss to Jagiellonia Bialystok and they have only won two of their seven games under McInnes.

Add to that the continued mystery over the absence of Nicolas Raskin - probably one of Rangers' best players.

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Aberdeen head coach Stephen Robinson has named an unchanged line-up and tells BBC Scotland: "It's important that, with all the change at the club, we get a level of stability.

"It's a very attacking line-up, four forwards in the team, and we believe we can really hurt Rangers.

"We felt today the boys had earned the right to go again. We've been loyal to them because they've earned it and it's important to build continuity."

Rangers manager Derek McInnes tells BBC Scotland: "We obviously had a tough game on Thursday, extra time and penalties, so we've tried to bring an element of freshness to [the team]."

On Kim Min-su, who comes into the Rangers side to make his debut, McInnes says the former Girona winger is a player he has been "waiting on for a while".

"He's only trained once with the team, but he looks sharp," the manager adds, pointing out that the 20-year-old had played the Spanish side's last game.

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Yesterday, Celtic recovered from their bruising exit from Champions League qualifying to edge out Falkirk and go three points clear at the top of the table.

Heart of Midlothian built on Thursday's win over Rapid Vienna to qualify for the Conference League by holding off a lively St Johnstone.

Meanwhile, Dundee United thumped hosts Kilmarnock 4-0.

While Dundee have the chance to join Celtic at the top later, and St Mirren and Motherwell can overtake Hearts into second, for Hibernian and Rangers to recover from their won Euro exits.

Watch yesterday's highlights on Sportscene.

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Aberdeen have been out of action for a fortnight after their Premiership match with Motherwell was postponed last weekend.

And Stephen Robinson names the same starting line-up that featured in a 3-0 Premier Sports Cup last-16 victory over Dundee last time out.

The Dons boss is boosted by the return of centre-back Mats Knoester, who is among the substitutes after being sidelined since May.

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Derek McInnes throws in Kim Min-su for his Rangers debut after the winger joined from Girona on Thursday, while Belgium midfielder Nicolas Raskin is absent again amid talk about his future.

Midfielder Cammy Devlin, winger Findlay Curtis and striker Lawrence Shankland also come into the side after an embarrassing European exit in midweek.

Vanja Dragojevic, Tochi Chukwuani, Daisuke Yokota and Ryan Naderi drop to the bench following the penalty shootout defeat by Jablonec in Thursday's Conference League play-off.

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Aberdeen: Muller, Cadden, Mayo, Happe, Guinness-Walker, Aremu, Ronan, Yogane, Olusanya, Ntelo, Nisbet.

Substitutes: Suman, Knoester, Mouloua, Briedl, Smith, Armstrong, Molloy, Milne, Fasanya.

Rangers: Pandur, Sterling, Fernandez, Makhanya, Penrice, Neil, Devlin, Minsu, Curtis, Gassama, Shankland.

Substitutes: Kelly, Nedeljkovic, Godfrey, Barron, Chukwuani, Dragojevic, Aasgaard, Yokota, Naderi.

Let's get straight to the all-important team news...

Sportsound's build-up to this afternoon's games has just started on BBC Radio Scotland.

Former Rangers midfielder Derek Ferguson and ex-Aberdeen defender Mark Reynolds join host Richard Gordon at Pittodrie.

Press the button at the top of the page to listen.

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Welcome to a busy Sunday of Scottish Premiership action, with three matches over the course of the afternoon.

Later, we have Dundee hosting Hibernian and Motherwell visiting St Mirren at 15:00 BST.

But first up it is the big game at Pittodrie, where troubled Rangers are visitors to manager Derek McInnes' former club, Aberdeen.

Stay with us for the build-up, live commentary and post-match reaction here online and on BBC Radio Scotland.

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