Peter Leven says Aberdeen need to focus on ‘here and now’

Aberdeen caretaker manager Peter Leven knows his team are playing for their futures but he wants them to focus on the here and now as the Dons look to move further up the Premiership table.

Aberdeen leapfrogged Motherwell into eighth place last weekend and will remove any lingering doubt about their top-flight status if they beat St Johnstone at Pittodrie on Saturday.

Leven will hand the reins to Elfsborg manager Jimmy Thelin at the end of the season and the Swede is keeping an eye on their season finale before switching jobs.

When asked what contact he had had with Thelin, Leven said: “Just the odd text after the games. I had a brief chat with him on Thursday just on a couple of things in the summer but nothing further for now.

“He’s obviously watching the games and the players know that. They are playing for their careers as well.

“Listen, it’s the here and now that matters the most and we need to keep collecting points for this football club.

“It’s about looking up for me rather than looking down. We have got to win every game. I set a challenge, I want to finish as high up as possible in the bottom six.”

Defender Angus MacDonald insists there should be no need for the motivation of impressing Thelin.

The centre-back, who has a further year left on his contract, said: “We know what we are fighting for but I suppose you probably could look at the manager coming in and you want to be in his plans for next season

“But it shouldn’t be (an added motivation). We all know how big these last four games are.

“We know what’s riding on the game. It would be nice to go into the last three games of the season taking that worry away. But they have been big games all season.”