Devlin Dismisses Rangers’ Struggles Ahead of Pittodrie Match

Aberdeen defender Nicky Devlin has dismissed concerns about Rangers’ early-season performance ahead of their Wednesday night encounter at Pittodrie. The Dons, currently undefeated, share the top spot in the Premiership. A victory in the upcoming match would extend their lead to nine points over the third-place Ibrox team, which has recorded two losses and one draw in its initial nine fixtures. Right-back Devlin stated: “They are coming off the back of beating someone [FCSB] in Europe by four goals, they beat St Mirren at the weekend, so I don’t think they are in a bad place to be honest.” He added, “They are obviously right behind both us and Celtic just now, I am sure they will look at it as an opportunity to close that gap, to put themselves right back in amongst it, and that is what we are up against.” Devlin concluded, “We have to be wary of that, we have to bring the best Aberdeen and hopefully that will be enough to win the game.” This season has been exceptionally successful for Devlin. In addition to his significant contribution to Aberdeen’s 15-game unbeaten streak, the 31-year-old made his first appearance for Scotland, coming on as a substitute in the Nations League match against Portugal at Hampden, which ended in a draw. Devlin acknowledged that the Dons have experienced a “remarkable turnaround” since their most recent league loss, which occurred in March during an away game against Dundee. “If you had said to me after Dens Park, Peter Leven’s first game when he took over, we would be in this position, I probably wouldn’t have believed you,” he commented. He further noted, “It has been a remarkable turnaround since then, but it is something we want to keep building on.” Devlin recalled an initial sense of excitement at the beginning of the season. He mentioned that [Jimmy Thelin]’s appointment as manager was likely unfamiliar to many in Scotland, and he believed a similar sentiment applied to most of the squad, who were unsure what to anticipate. However, Devlin credited Thelin with instilling “a belief in us to go and try and win every game, and that is what we have managed to do for most of season so far.”