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Hearts defender Jordan McGhee is suspended following his red card in last weekend’s loss at Dundee United.
Callum Paterson and Juanma Delgado return after missing the Tannadice trip with hamstring complaints.
Kilmarnock could hand a debut to former West Ham and Real Madrid full-back Julien Faubert,[1] who has signed until the end of the season.
Steven Smith, Jamie Hamill, Mark Connolly, Chris Johnston and Darryl Westlake are injury absentees.
Reporter’s notes
Tynecastle has been nothing short of a fortress since Robbie Neilson and Craig Levein took over the reigns of the football department.
Only Celtic, Aberdeen and Falkirk have left victorious since Ann Budge gained overall control of the club.
But they go into Saturday’s game against Kilmarnock on the back of two straight defeats.
| Hearts head coach Robbie Neilson |
|---|
| “There’s definitely a real determination to pick up full points over the next few games. We want to take nine points from nine at home. It’s important that we do that, one, to get ourselves cemented in the top six and two, start gunning for Aberdeen.” |
The Scottish Cup loss against city rivals Hibernian must still have been hurting as the surprisingly also went down by two goals to one against rock bottom Dundee United.
This weekend could also prove to be tricky as they take on a Killie side with new manager Lee Clark looking for his players to ease their way out of any potential relegation battle.
Games this season between the teams have been extremely tight.
| Kilmarnock midfielder Gary Dicker |
|---|
| “We have had some decent results and good performances so far so it’s something to build on. We’ve done well to keep clean sheets and it’s a starting base for everything. Once you are keeping clean sheets you will always get a chance.” |
A last minute winner from Sam Nicholson was enough for Hearts to progress in the league cup tie at Rugby Park earlier in the season while the two league fixtures have both ended as draws.
If history is anything to go by there should be plenty of goals.
The last seven clashes have produced 28 in total with only one goalless match in their last 25 meetings.
References
- ^ Julien Faubert, (www.bbc.co.uk)
