Willie Miller: Aberdeen are on for a great Premiership start - but can they split Celtic and Rangers?

Lewis Ferguson scores a penalty to make it 2-0 to Aberdeen in their impressive win against Ross County

If Aberdeen can beat St Mirren at Pittodrie on Friday they will have made a very good start to the Premiership campaign heading into the international break.

The Dons have had to deal with issues surrounding games being postponed because of Covid-19 breaches and there was a lot of pressure on the club when it came to handling those issues.

But the Reds have responded really well with the results they have achieved – the only blip really was the home defeat to Motherwell which was out of character.

The Motherwell game has been Aberdeen’s only low point in recent matches.

Derek McInnes has assembled a very good squad in terms of the strength in depth at his disposal.

Scott McKenna left for Nottingham Forest last week, but there is the cover within the Aberdeen squad to cope with his departure.

The Scotland cap’s exit was used as a reason for the poor defensive performance in the 3-0 reverse by the Steelmen, but as the Dons showed on Sunday against Ross County they still have good defenders who can keep clean sheet despite McKenna leaving.

Victory against St Mirren will make it six league wins out of eight which is a very good start.

In terms of building on that promising start and assessing what Aberdeen can achieve in the league this season, third is a realistic aim, but with the squad the Dons have they are in a better place to get closer to Celtic and Rangers.

When trying to push the Old Firm, it comes down to consistency and also taking points off the Glasgow sides when you play them to stay close to them.

It’s a big ask for any team this season to split Celtic and Rangers and finish in the top two.

Whether the Dons can get in front of Celtic or Rangers, who they played on the opening day, remains to be seen.

But I think the Red Army can look forward to a good season – there’s last season’s Scottish Cup to complete as well as this season’s competition and the League Cup.

The Dons are well-equipped to challenge for those three pieces of silverware.

In the Premiership it can be more difficult to challenge Celtic and Rangers with what they have spent recently to build their squads and they still have the means to splash the cash again in January if they need to.

Bearing that in mind third is a realistic and achievable target for Aberdeen.

When it comes to pushing Celtic and Rangers, the Dons are better equipped to push them this season than they were last term, but to break into the top two is still a tall order.

Looking at the Dons’ 3-0 win over Ross County on Sunday, the display was the complete opposite of the previous weekend against Motherwell.

The performance, if you are an Aberdeen fan, is everything you want to see really. The only thing that was lacking was to be a bit more clinical because with the chances that were created it could have been an embarrassing scoreline for Ross County.

But the pleasing aspect for the Reds was how they went about things right from the start.

They were on the front foot and looking to create right from the outset, the only time they really had to be a bit more conservative and hold onto what they had was just before the second goal.

And from doing that the Staggies were caught on the counter-attack, conceded a penalty with Iain Vigurs getting sent off and Lewis Ferguson was able to wrap the game up from the penalty spot.

There were a number of very good individual performances. Niall McGinn and Jonny Hayes, particularly in the first half, linked up to great effect down the left.

On the other side Ryan Hedges was always a threat and the movement of Scott Wright and Marley Watkins caused Ross County plenty of problems.

At the other end, goalkeeper Joe Lewis barely had a save to make, so it was a top performance from Aberdeen in all aspects of the game really.

Marley Watkins could fly now he’s got first goal

Marley Watkins has been a great addition to Aberdeen’s team and getting his first goal will give him a confidence boost.

The on-loan Bristol City attacker has been unlucky not to get off the mark for the Dons before Sunday’s counter against Ross County.

Marley Watkins watches his header beat Ross Laidlaw.

The Welsh forward’s all-round play and the way he has led the line has been very good, but goals are always expected of strikers so it’s good he’s got that monkey off his back.

I’m sure Watkins will bag a few more in the weeks to come and when Sam Cosgrove and Curtis Main return from injury Derek McInnes will have real competition among his strikers.