Graeme Shinnie urges Aberdeen to ‘keep foot on gas’ before Celtic test

“Teams will move about. The two Edinburgh teams are at the bottom – I would expect them to pick up so it will change as we go on.

“Once you get to the more business end of the season then you can start looking at that kind of stuff. We are fully focussed on winning games and that is what we have been doing.”

Manager Jimmy Thelin has maintained a level headed demeanour and a mantra of taking one game since his summer arrival.

But does the more experienced Shinnie have a part to play in ensuring some of the younger members of the squad do not get carried away on a sea of excitement amid a run of 15 wins and a draw?

“It is a hard one, it is letting them have that little bit of excitement because it is good and we are in a good place so it is about enjoying that but it is also about keeping our foot on the pedal because nothing has been achieved,” Shinnie explained.

“It is about trying to continue what we are doing, trying to continue to get better, we are still reasonably early in the manager’s era, so we are still learning as we go.

“It is enjoying it while we are at it because winning games is enjoyable but on top of that it is keeping right on top of it and keeping our foot firmly on the gas.”

Shinnie won the Scottish Cup with Inverness Caledonian Thistle nine years ago and winning silverware with Aberdeen remains “a massive ambition”.

“We know the challenge at hand,” he said of facing Celtic. “We know Celtic will be confident going into it as well so we are trying to focus on ourselves and do the things that have done well for us this season.

“Anything can happen in a cup game, we know that, I know that over the years that I have played in the cup so we will be focussed, we will be ready to go.”