Jimmy Thelin feels Rangers clash is ‘good challenge’ for out-of-sorts Aberdeen

Jimmy Thelin believes Aberdeen should embrace the “challenge” at Ibrox on Wednesday night as they look to arrest their slump in form.

The Dons have gone 11 games without a win after going 11 unbeaten at the start of the season and have dropped from second to fourth in the Premiership.

Thelin does not believe the pressure is off his side in any way because they are playing Rangers in their own stadium but believes it is healthy.

He said: “You have to be ready to compete and also the intensity between these two teams when they play against each other, the atmosphere, it’s a good challenge to have right now.

“All focus is for us to do the best performance that we can and try to get some points.

“The pressure is always there in some way or another but I don’t think it’s a bad thing.

“The pressure is good because then you have to grow as a person, as a footballer, as a team, and you need some pressure to be better.

“There should be some intense feeling about games. That’s why you want to be in this business, to feel this tension and to be the best you can be. So I don’t think the pressure is off.

“For us the most important thing is how we grow, and because we have been in a challenging time we need to get a bit better every game.

“So we’re going to try to keep building on some parts from the last game and move on to the next game and try to be better tomorrow.”

New signings Alfie Dorrington, the 19-year-old Tottenham centre-back signed on loan until the end of the season, and Danish defender Alexander Jensen, who joined from Swedish side Brommapojkarna on a four-year deal, should both go into the squad for Ibrox.

Thelin said: “The situation we are in right now, with some injury problems, it’s challenging the squad. When you get injuries, long-term injuries in specific areas of the team, it’s also more high-risk for the players who are fresh because there’s no availability to rest them.

“We need to strengthen the squad to cope with the last part of the season. We need to just be sensible, to give them some time to prepare themselves, but they’re going to be involved in the squad tomorrow.

“Let’s see with one of them but it (paperwork) is almost done.

“We also need to be sensible so they don’t get any setbacks themselves, so that we can keep everybody fresh to compete to the end of the season.

“With Alexander Jensen I know him well from Sweden. He can play on both sides, left and right.

“His game understanding is really good, how he anticipates the game and his capacity to run. He’s coming from pre-season training so we need to give him time. He has the capacity to keep the intensity of the game.

“Alfie is a good centre-back who is good with the ball. His pace and his background, how he understands the game, can help us also during the season.”