Celtic miss chance to close gap on league leaders as Aberdeen match postponed | OneFootball

Celtic’s Scottish Premiership match against Aberdeen has been postponed this evening due to heavy rain, with Dundee's match against Motherwell also delayed.

Aberdeen announced this afternoon that fourth official Greg Souter had made the decision to call off the match "in the interests of player safety”, with the pitch deemed unfit for play after an inspection.

The postponement means Celtic miss the chance to move within three points of league leaders Hearts, who lost 1-0 away to St Mirren yesterday.

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Aberdeenshire has recorded the wettest January since 2016 with 124mm of rainfall, reports Sky Sports (PA)

“There was an area of concern raised about the bottom end within the penalty area. I've had a look at it, there's extremely soft mud, it's moving when you put studs in it and there's concern player safety when they're running in it that their studs will just slip,” Souter told Sky Sports.

“The ball's not bouncing in that area either. Player safety is paramount and that's not something I could ensure. It's not one I thought was in doubt, it's a fairly straightforward decision.”

Elsewhere, the decision was made to call off Dundee’s home fixture against Motherwell “due to unprecedented rainfall”, with the hosts having arranged a precautionary inspection before the decision was made shortly before 4pm GMT.

"The borderline decision was made by the match referee, and details of the rearranged fixture will be made available as soon as possible," said statement from the club.

Neither of the Aberdeen-Celtic or Dundee-Motherwell fixtures have been re-arranged, though a statement from Aberdeen on X stated that “details for the re-arranged match will be published in due course”.

Three matches will still go ahead this evening, and Rangers could move within three points of Hearts as they take on Kilmarnock at Ibrox before a break this weekend for the latest round of Scottish Cup fixtures.

And that cup action means Celtic’s next league match will come next week, as Martin O’Neill’s side face Livingston at home on Wednesday, 11 February.