Aberdeen and Celtic meet in the League Cup final on Sunday for the first time since March 2000 but what area of the pitch with the trophy be won?

Thom Watt looks ahead to the Hampden showdown by picking out the key stats and looking at who could secure the silverware for their side.

Will Aberdeen's birthday boy James Maddison prove to be key or will Brendan Rodgers' tactical mastermind triumph? Or will it be the the keepers who determines the result?

For a match that is so full of potential match winners, it could be the goalkeepers who make the biggest difference on Sunday. Craig Gordon appears to be back to his best after a poor 2015/16 and an indifferent start to this campaign, while Joe Lewis has proved to be one of the most astute signings of the summer.

"You need your goalkeeper to play well because you know he'll have to make saves, and you hope you can take your opportunities at the other end." Brendan Rodgers assessment of facing Barcelona could just as easily apply to Aberdeen's Joe Lewis.

The Englishman instils confidence in his defence, communicates well, seems to relish one-vs-one situations and has produced some incredible saves already this season, none more so than against Celtic at Pittodrie last month.

Lewis' heroics provided Aberdeen with the opportunity to take something from a game they were rarely in until the later stages. Were it not for an exceptional save from Craig Gordon, they would have taken an unlikely point. Gordon hasn't conceded a league goal in 541 minutes, a record that's only been bettered on three occasions in the Premiership.

Much of Aberdeen's creative output this season has come from Norwich loanee James Maddison, who only turned 20 on Wednesday. Plenty of players come to Scotland on loan and show great potential with their raw attributes. What is so impressive in Maddison is how he appears to be a far more mature technical player sent out on loan to aid his physical development rather than his footballing brain.

Maddison has already produced several moments for his highlight reel, not least his last minute free-kick to defeat Rangers. He demands the ball, rarely loses possession and creates space with quick thinking and feet rather than pace or acceleration. This poses a considerable problem for opposition managers - double marking him leaves space to the likes of Jonny Hayes and Niall McGinn, as Kilmarnock and Partick Thistle have discovered recently, and one man might not be enough.

By Sunday he'll have been out of his teens for just four days, but he's averaging a league goal or assist every 123 minutes for Aberdeen.

Losing Scott Sinclair to injury is a significant blow to Brendan Rodgers side. While Moussa Dembele has been attracting every scout in Europe, it has been Sinclair that has been the most dangerous attacking player, averaging a goal or an assist every 78 minutes for Celtic this season.

Kieran Tierney's injury has meant a recall for Emilio Izaguirre when Celtic play a back-four, and a complete defensive re-think when they don't. Leigh Griffiths only returned to training on Friday after injury and would surely be a risk as a starter.

Will there be any side effects from coming straight from a Champions League match with Barcelona where they had to cover some 70 miles in running distance?

This time last year it'd have been relatively easy to predict how both sides would line up. Derek McInnes' side had found a great deal of joy in playing 4-2-3-1 against Celtic, and one of the reasons for Ronny Deila's ultimate downfall was his tactical inflexibility. The winners were the teams that made the least mistakes. This season it's very different.

At different points this campaign Derek McInnes has deployed a 4-4-2, a 4-3-3, the 4-2-3-1, three at the back with Mark Reynolds, Anthony O'Connor and Andrew Considine, and even started without a recognised, out-and-out striker against Celtic at Pittodrie last month. Aberdeen seem to have a relatively settled XI, but there are still some questions about the balance between defence and attack.

Brendan Rodgers has shown similar tactical flexibility, even in matches where his side was the heavy favourites. If Leigh Griffiths is fit, Rodgers may opt to partner him with Moussa Dembele.

If not, the young Frenchman has been exceptional as a lone forward. Rodgers has also experimented with three at the back, deploying Lustig, Sviachenko and either Boyata or Simunovic. The three has allowed Celtic to get more of their attacking players on the pitch at once, with Stuart Armstrong benefiting in particular, but it appeared to disrupt the fluency of the team against Kilmarnock.