Hibernian will be aiming to secure a place in the top half on Saturday before the Scottish Premiership table is split when they travel to Tynecastle in order to face Hearts for the Edinburgh derby.
The hosts have already guaranteed their position in the top six, but they will be wanting to gain momentum for when they meet the Hibees again next weekend in the Scottish Cup semi-final.
Match preview
© Reuters
Hearts are comfortably in third place right now, with a 14-point gap on those below them, while they are 19 adrift of Rangers above.
The Jambos will be looking to extend their unbeaten run of six games in this one, building upon the momentum that they have developed as of late.
Robbie Neilson's squad have impressed at home throughout this season, only being beaten three times in front of their own fans.
However, Hearts will be hoping a return to winning ways can take place this Saturday after they shared the points with Ross County last weekend in a 1-1 draw.
Barrie McKay's equaliser helped them secure another point after they had initially fallen behind in that match, and the Jambos will want to prepare themselves for the upcoming Scottish Cup semi-final in the best possible manner.
© Reuters
Hibernian will be their opponents in that match, but Shaun Maloney's team cannot afford to look ahead at that because of how tight things are in the Scottish Premiership.
The table will be split in half following this round of games, and right now the Hibees find themselves just inside the top half.
There is only a four-point gap between fourth and 10th place right now, putting plenty of pressure on all of the matches this weekend as each club in those positions has the chance to earn a top-six finish.
Hibernian are without a victory in their previous five outings in the league, and that includes a 1-1 draw against Dundee United last weekend.
They have also been unable to score during their previous two meetings with Hearts this season, with each game ending 0-0.
- L
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- W
- W
- D
- W
- D
- D
- D
- L
- D
- D
- D
- D
- W
- L
- D
Team News
© Reuters
Hearts are without Beni Baningime for the remainder of this season due to a cruciate ligament injury, and that opened up an opportunity for Andy Halliday to start last weekend.
Nathaniel Atkinson also missed out in the recent draw against Ross County due to illness, but he should be available this Saturday.
Kyle Magennis's difficult season has continued recently; after spending time out with a hip injury his return saw him suffer a knee problem, and he is now out for the rest of this campaign.
The Hibees also have a host of other issues as Christian Doidge, Darren McGregor, Paul McGinn and Matt Macey are all set to be assessed prior to the match, while Ryan Porteous is suspended.
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Sibbick, Halkett, Kingsley; McEneff, Haring, Halliday, Cochrane; McKay, Boyce, Simms
Hibernian possible starting lineup:
Dabrowski; Bushiri, Hanlon, Doig; Cadden, Doyle-Hayes, Newell, Clarke; Jasper, Mueller; Melkersen
We say: Hearts 2-0 Hibernian
The visitors have got a lot more to play for in this particular match, as they have the chance to secure a place in the top half of the table before it splits.
Hearts will not make that an easy situation for them, and considering the extra quality that they have as a squad, they should be able to secure all three points.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hearts win with a probability of 52.75%. A draw had a probability of 24.6% and a win for Hibernian had a probability of 22.66%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hearts win was 1-0 with a probability of 11.86%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 2-0 (9.74%) and 2-1 (9.6%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (11.69%), while for a Hibernian win it was 0-1 (7.12%). The actual scoreline of 3-1 was predicted with a 5.3% likelihood. Our team at Sports Mole and our data analysis both correctly predicted that Hearts would win this match.
