Aberdeen manager Jimmy Thelin is well aware his side has a tough task facing them when they travel to Rangers tonight but is confident they can handle the pressure and end their winless run.

The Dons go into battle having failed to win any of their last 11 Premiership outings, with the latest result offering a glimmer of hope after putting a halt to the losing run by drawing with Hearts.

But if they are to make it a double against the Gers after beating Philippe Clement's men in October, Thelin knows his side need to step up.

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Two individuals he will be hoping can help their cause are Alexander Jensen and Alfie Dorrington, with the new Dons arriving in the Granite City on Monday as Thelin continues to bolster his squad.

The defensive duo became the third and fourth signings of a busy January window, but Thelin wasn't giving much away when quizzed about any future transfer activity.

On the signings of Jensen and Dorrington, Thelin told the media ahead of the trip to Glasgow: "The situation we are in right now, with some injury problems, it’s challenging the squad, like I said before, when you get injuries, long term injuries in specific areas of the team, it’s also more high risk for the players who are fresh, because there’s no availability to rest them.

"We need to strengthen the squad to cope with the last part of the season. We need to just be sensible, to arrive and give them some time to prepare themselves, but they’re going to be involved in the squad tomorrow. We also need to be sensible so they don’t get any setbacks themselves so that we can keep everybody fresh to compete to the end of the season.

"With Alexander Jensen I know him well from Sweden. He can play on both sides, left and right. His game understanding is really good, how he anticipates the game with the ball, and his capacity to run.

"He’s coming from pre season training, so we need to give him time. He has the capacity to keep the intensity of the game.

"Alfie is a good centre back who is good with the ball, his pace, and his background, how he understands the game, can help us also during the season."

With the window still open for just over a fortnight, Thelin kept the lid on any future transfer business, but insisted there is still scope for the injured players to break back into the team.

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He added: "The window is open, and let’s see what’s happening. We always try to strengthen the team, as I said before, sometimes we don’t do anything more, sometimes maybe we do.

"Let’s see how the team develops now and which players are close to coming back, but there is still a lot of weeks for most of the players who are out. Let’s see how the game tomorrow goes and the cup game at the weekend."

Aberdeen downed Rangers at a packed Pittodrie last time the sides met, but since that victory the Dons' form has made for grim reading.

They will need to churn out a big performance to end their 11-game winless run, and Thelin is well aware of the task facing his side on his first trip to Ibrox as Reds manager.

Thelin said: "A tough challenge, every game is difficult. You have to be ready to compete and also the intensity between these two teams when they play against each other, the atmosphere, it’s a good challenge to have right now, and all focus is for us to do the best performance that we can and try to get some points from there.

"The pressure is always there in some way or another but I don’t think it’s a bad thing. The pressure is good because then you have to grow as a person, as a footballer, as a team, and you need some pressure to be better.

"There should be some intense feeling about games, and so it’s always going to be there. That’s why you want to be in this business, to feel this tension and to be the best you can be. So I don’t think the pressure is off or whatever.

"For us the most important thing is how we grow, and because we have been in a challenging time, and we need to get a bit better every game. So we’re going to try to keep building on some parts from the last game and move onto the next game and try to be better tomorrow.

"You always have to believe that you can do something and go into a game and compete, and we have a clear plan of what we want to do tomorrow. Also Rangers have been good at home, we know that, and so we have to be really, really good tomorrow and believe in what we’re doing and give everything we can."

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Despite another game without victory, there were plenty of positives to take from the Hearts draw, and one of them was the performance of James McGarry, who Thelin was full of praise for ahead of Wednesday's clash.

He added: "Even the Celtic game at home, I think he was really good. For him, it’s more to keep that level. He has a lot of attributes that are good.

"The last game against Hearts, he was good in many ways, both defending and attacking. If you take that challenge now, and challenge him to take the steps he can do it.

"That’s why he is playing and also the period last time Mackenzie was out, he did well but there was also so many games in a short time. His level, the high level he has, is really high now you have to be consistent in this part.

"As a team, we need to create more dangerous chances. I talk about after the Hearts game, at least we’re arriving to some chances, but we need more players to arrive. We also need to create space for each other when we arrive into the box. It’s teamwork."

Slobodan Rubezic remains suspended for the trip to Govan, while Jack MacKenzie is out with injury as Thelin confirmed several players remain under assessment.