Jimmy Thelin says Aberdeen must beat Dundee to end winless Premiership start and ease pressure

Jimmy Thelin admitted there is no escaping the importance of Aberdeen’s William Hill Premiership clash with Dundee on Sunday.

The Dons have won only one of their 11 fixtures in all competitions this term and are bottom of the table with just one point – and no goals – from their six league matches.

After a spirited showing in Thursday’s 3-2 Conference League defeat by Shakhtar Donetsk temporarily eased some of the pressure on Thelin, the embattled manager knows his team must get their Premiership campaign up and running on Sunday.

“Of course it’s important,” he said. “We know where we are on the table and the goals we have scored in the league, so now all our focus is on the Dundee game.

“We have to recover and do a really good performance to get the points and get into the league, and starting from there build game by game. That’s what we have to focus on because we are where we are.”

Dons midfielder Stuart Armstrong added: “You want to take the positives from Thursday but you want to turn it into something that’s real – points, wins, goals.

“Considering our start, it places a greater importance on getting a win against Dundee. Everyone at the club knows how important it is.

“The positivity of the last 20 minutes on Thursday I think will fuel us and give us some energy going into Sunday.”

Dundee head coach Steven Pressley reminded his players that they have the power to pile the pressure on Aberdeen.

Pressley said: “It’s very much how the game goes in the initial period. It’s like anything, if we start aggressively, if we score the first goal, then of course playing for Aberdeen is a high-pressured position.

“With that high pressure comes the demands of the supporters, so that’s something we have to try to use to our advantage.

“I think it’s a great stage for us. We have shown certain signs of improvement.”

However, Pressley felt Aberdeen were “much improved” against Motherwell last weekend, before scoring two goals in their European defeat.

“They have some really good players,” he added. “We’re aware that we haven’t won up there since 2004, before Tony Yogane was actually born, so that tells you the size of the challenge.”