Stuart McCall expects Aberdeen's title challenge to be maintained for the rest of the season. Three points separate leaders Celtic and Aberdeen before the side sides to meet on Sunday, 1 March at Parkhead. Despite the Glasgow side having a game in hand, former Motherwell manager McCall believes there will be very little between the sides come the end of the campaign.
He said: "At the beginning of the season, as usual, we thought Celtic would end up winning by 15 to 20 points, as they normally do. The last couple of seasons, when I was at Motherwell, we finished runners-up twice to them but again I think we were around 15 points behind them. But in fairness to Aberdeen, they are not going away. They keep winning and they showed their intent when they paid £300,000 for Kenny McLean. Aberdeen have not paid that amount of money (for a player) for many a year. The supporters are backing them and you see Inverness are right in there too. They are having an outstanding season to be just three points behind Aberdeen. Celtic have all their players back now and are looking a lot stronger but still Aberdeen are pushing them. They have a game next weekend which will change things at the top again, but whatever happens I don't see Aberdeen going away. That said, I don't think they will pip Celtic (to the title) but all credit to Derek McInnes and what he is doing up there. Without Rangers, Celtic need pushing and that is what is happening in the league at the moment."