Derek McInnes: Aberdeen set up to hit second half of season like a train

The Dons boss had to replace five first-team regulars over the summer and was himself the subject of approaches from Sunderland and Rangers.

Despite that, Aberdeen have eclipsed their points tally at the same stage last season and this week confirmed the return of influential winger Niall McGinn after a brief spell in South Korea.

Aberdeen ended 2017 with a frustrating goalless draw with Hearts at Pittodrie on Saturday as they failed to make ground on Ladbrokes Premiership leaders Celtic.

But McInnes insisted his side head into the winter break in good shape.

"I'm confident that we're set up well for the second half of the campaign," he said.

"Today was the kind of game that McGinn would have been really important to us - unlocking a tight defence and bringing that bit of quality.

"We've got that to look forward to, but we also have the lads we signed in the summer up to speed, more aware of the demands of this club. I think they'll be better for it.

"We're all looking forward to the break and being able to switch off mentally and physically, and hopefully we can do something similar to last season when we hit the second part of the campaign like a train.

"The break can give you that opportunity to re-energise and do that."

On McGinn's return, he added: "When a player of the quality of McGinn becomes available then you have to try to do something, and if a player of that quality becames available in another position then we might try to do something similar.

• Aberdeen
• Dons
• Derek McInnes