Jesper Karlsson earns Aberdeen a point at home in 1-1 draw with Dundee United

Aberdeen and Dundee United shared a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie in the William Hill Premiership on Saturday evening.

Neither side could produce a winning goal in a contest in which the Dons dominated possession but were matched in terms of efforts on goal.

United took the lead against the run of play when Amar Fatah outmuscled Nicky Devlin before curling home.

However, the home side levelled on the hour thanks to Jesper Karlsson’s close-range finish.

Both sides made three changes from their previous match, the suspended Dylan Lobban dropping out along with Alexander Jensen and forward Marko Lazetic after Aberdeen’s 3-1 defeat to Celtic, the sole defeat in their last eight domestic fixtures.

United were hit with a number of defensive injuries, with Ryan Strain and Ross Graham suffering groin problems in the 1-1 draw with Hibs, both missing out against the Dons along with the suspended Luca Stephenson. Bert Esselink, Iurie Iovu and Dario Naamo stepped in.

The Dons started brightly with Stuart Armstrong’s early snapshot held by Dave Richards in the first 10 minutes, before United had a goal ruled out when Fatah obstructed Dimitar Mitov’s clearance, the ball trundling into the net – only for referee Calum Scott to award a free-kick to the hosts.

The movement of Karlsson was causing problems for the visitors’ defence and he spun well to create an opening but shot well wide.

Midway through the first half, Karlsson and Adil Aouchiche combined to create space for a shot from the edge of the box, but Richards dived well to push away Karlsson’s curling effort.

The Dons were building a lengthy spell of pressure but were hit with the classic sucker-punch. Devlin was outmuscled by Fatah as he tried to control an awkward ball and the Swede drove into the box before curling across Mitov and into the far bottom corner.

The sides cancelled each other out for the remainder of the first half, and it was perhaps a little surprising Aberdeen did not make any changes at the interval despite the meagre return of shots on goal for their 77 per cent first-half possession.

Graeme Shinnie did have an effort blocked by Richards at the near post before Kenan Bilalovic and Lazetic entered the fray after 56 minutes, and within five minutes the home side were level.

Aouchiche worked space to curl an effort goalward from the edge of the area which Richards could not hold and Karlsson reacted first to blast the ball high into the net from close range.

Both sides kept each other at bay, although Richards had to be alert to deny substitute Kjartan Kjartansson from long-range on the stroke of 90 minutes.