Kari warns Dons ahead of Celts crunch
sport@dailyrecord.co.uk here we should be trying to beat them to close the gap.
“If we can get a point or nick three that would be brilliant.
“It is important we compete with them here and we can’t afford to drop points like Saturday if we want to challenge them.” Arnason came in for his first game since the opening day of the league campaign against Hamilton and admitted the strength of the Aberdeen squad means he faces an anxious wait to see if he stays in the team. Aberdeen face a double header against Motherwell in Thursday’s Betfred Cup quarter-final followed by a league trip to Fir Park. He said: “I was very unhappy at myself in my first game as I didn’t show anyone what I can do. I knew from that point on I had to be patient. “I don’t know what happened, it was just a bad game. I tried to keep it simple by winning the headers and clearing the ball but it will be up to the manager whether I keep my place.
“We’ve got a good squad here and we’ve shown in spells what we can do but we need to do it for the whole 90 minutes.
“We know all about Motherwell’s qualities but we need to get the self-belief in the team and get back to winning.”
Meanwhile, the man who denied Dons a victory at the weekend insisted the manmanagement of Kilmarnock boss Lee McCulloch was key to his team grabbing a shock point at Pittodrie.
Killie goalscorer Jordan Jones said: “The manager had a meeting with me last Monday. He had a meeting with everyone but he does hold them quite regularly with me and he is brilliant with myself.
“You saw towards the end of last season that he was really starting to get the best out of me.
“I haven’t been near my best at the start of this term but I felt I was on my game at Pittodrie and I just hope I can continue that now.”
Jones revealed his gaffer has been bending his ear about gatecrashing Northern Ireland’s World Cup party and Teeside-born Jones, who qualifies through his grandfather, is determined to give it a go.
The winger added: “As a kid you dream of going to World Cups and I am in a position where I can maybe force my way into that if I play the best I can.
“It is not everyone who gets the chance to go to a World Cup. I want to get myself into the squad but they are doing so well.
“They did brilliantly well at Euro 2016 and everyone’s eyes were on them because of the story they created.
“They have been brilliant under Michael O’Neill. It’s a hard squad to get into.
“But I was on standby for the last World Cup qualifier and it is an achievement in itself to get to that stage. I followed Northern Ireland when I was young.”
GAVIN BERRY