Rangers 'not in bad place' - Devlin

Aberdeen defender Nicky Devlin is taking little notice of Rangers' early-season troubles prior to Wednesday night's showdown at Pittodrie.

The unbeaten Dons go into the game joint top of the Premiership and knowing a win would see them open up a nine-point gap over the third-place Ibrox side, who have lost two and drawn one of their opening nine matchees.

Right-back Devlin said: "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.

"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.

"We have to be wary of that, we have to bring the best Aberdeen and hopefully that will be enough to win the game."

It has been a dream season so far for Devlin. As well playing a key role in Aberdeen's 15-game unbeaten run, the 31-year-old made his Scotland debut as a substitute in the Nations League draw with Portugal at Hampden.

Devlin admits the Dons have enjoyed a "remarkable turnaround" since their last league defeat, which was away to Dundee in March.

"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 said.

"It has been a remarkable turnaround since then, but it is something we want to keep building on.

"From the start of the season there was an excitement. [Jimmy Thelin] was a managerial appointment that probably not many people in Scotland knew much about, I would probably say most of the squad as well were very similar, didn’t really know what to expect.

"But he has instilled 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."