Dimitar Mitov is back in training and could come back into contention to make his Aberdeen return at Kilmarnock.
The Bulgarian international injured his hamstring against Hearts earlier this month. It was predicted that Mitov could be out for at least four weeks but he has made good progress and is close to full fitness. Ross Doohan has been deputising since the Dons No 1 has been out. Jimmy Thelin confirmed: “Dimi will train fully today. So at least he will be available.”
The Aberdeen boss is looking to give the Red Army some festive cheer with a win at Kilmarnock. The Dons have failed to win in the last six and that is something he hopes his team will put right at Rugby Park. The Swede said: “It’s going to be good. We’re going to travel on Christmas Day and have a good journey together and prepare for an exciting game.
“We will give everything we can for our supporters and each other. You have to believe that. Football is about challenges. You have away games, home games, different opponents and some play in some ways. But you have to go in with our belief in what we are doing and don’t find excuses about the pitch, etc. If it’s away or home, you have to give everything and that’s what you can do.
“You can try and you have to give everything you have and then you can feel a better feeling after the game that you actually do what you want to do in that game. We have a strong belief we can get a good result there.”
Aberdeen started off well against Hibs but they lost a cheap equaliser and went on to lose 3-1. Thelin said: “We have re-watched the game and as I said at the time also, we did some good things. We created some really good chances and were stable in periods and then some parts we weren’t doing so well.
“That’s a thing like, we have to keep improving and keep doing things better. As I said from the beginning of the season, we know what we want to go and how we want to look in the future and it’s a lot of work to do and we’re still working with that process and nothing has really changed.
“We had a good start of the season regarding points and now we have a period with not so many points. But the way we see things, how we want to grow, what we have to improve, hasn’t changed from the beginning. We have to push and try to be better in some areas of the pitch and be more consistent.”