Michael Stewart identifies three reasons for Aberdeen's five-game winless run

Michael Stewart has identified the three key reasons why Aberdeen's momentum has stalled after the Dons' winless run extended to five games against St Johnstone.

Jimmy Thelin's men had made a superb start, matching Celtic stride for stride until they suffered their first loss of the season against St Mirren last month.

They then fell to consecutive draws away at Hibs and Hearts, before suffering a 1-0 defeat to the Hoops at Pittodrie and drawing with the Perth Saints last weekend.

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Aberdeen have a rare weekend off due to Rangers' involvement in the Premier Sports Cup Final, and will have to overcome Hibs next Saturday if they are to secure a first league win in six games.

Stewart feels the St Johnstone clash should have been a routine victory for Thelin's Reds, who now sit nine points behind league leaders Celtic.

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But the Premier Sports pundit, who was speaking on The Scottish Football Social Club, is not concerned for Aberdeen's long-term future as he detailed what he believes has hampered the Dons in recent weeks.

He said: "I don’t have any concerns over the course of the season. What’s happened here for me, it’s just small incremental things that have a huge impact collectively.

"They’ve missed a few players, Jack MacKenzie’s been out and it’s been key. James McGarry has struggled at left-back on the whole.

"And they’ve had more games in a short period of time than they’ve had in the early part of the season. And the third thing is, they’ve had more away games, tough games away from home in particular. And at home on the back of them against Celtic.

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"So the fixture list at the start of the season was quite kind to them and they were picking up great results, they were beating the teams that were in front of them, then they were getting some positive results against the top teams in the division as well.

"Just this last little spell here where it’s been more midweek games and away from home and missing some key players, that collective issue has seen them drop a lot more points than they’d have hoped for."