DEREK McINNES insists the difficulties being faced by Rangers and Hearts are of no concern to his Aberdeen players in their bid to secure second place.

The Aberdeen manager prefers, instead, to keep his mind focused on the excellent run his side is currently enjoying and to retaining their place behind runaway leaders Celtic in the league table to secure a third successive year in the Europa League.

"Even if our rivals were doing well and picking up points, I'd think the same which is that we have to just focus on ourselves,” he said. "If you start looking at what others are doing, regardless of whether they're doing well or not, then you can slip up.

"It's so important to just concentrate on yourself and that's something we have always illustrated to the players.”

McInnes, however, made it clear there were no guarantees, even though his side has produced eye-catching form in recent weeks.

He pointed to three defeats against Celtic this season as being a marked difference to last term when the Pittodrie "We have got ourselves into a good position but that's all it is at the moment," McInnes added. "There are 39 points still to play for so a lot can happen, so we just have to focus on ourselves. You have to be ready for the next challenge."