The festivities are over and is time for a far more important date on the Edinburgh calendar – the derby.
Hibs and Hearts fans will have enjoyed their turkey, mince pies and opening their presents but deep down they’ll have been mostly looking forward to this day when the two capital clubs lock horns. The Jambos are in a good place going into it after a win over St Mirren made it six from eight, giving them plenty of confidence to head across the city.
Steven Naismith has recently welcomed back Barrie McKay and Craig Halkett, who both got their first starts against the Buddies, and can be big player on occasions like this. He does have others, like Cammy Devlin and Liam Boyce, out with knocks though and so it won’t be easy picking a team.
Here, Football Scotland has had a go at predicting what he will go with.
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Zander Clark
There may be a clamour for Craig Gordon to get his place back but Clark has done nothing to deserve being dropped yet. Another clean sheet on Saturday means he’s had shutouts in 50 per cent of his league games -
Frankie Kent
Been a rock at the centre of the three but proved against St Mirren that he can perform just as effectively on the right of it. Craig Halkett -
His return brought another level of calmness to a backline that was already performing well, and Halkett will only get better with games. Kye Rowles -
Back at the top of his game after a period were he was well below par. Complemented well by having physical players next to him, with his positional sense and on-the-floor defending top notch. Nathaniel Atkinson -
A hit or a miss but was very good against Celtic before a slight drop-off on Saturday. Should face competition at RWB after January but for now the spot is his. -
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Alex Cochrane
And the other side is nailed on for Cochrane at the moment too. Got an assist for Shankland at the weekend and is capable of those telling contributions at both ends of the park
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Beni Baningime
Back to being one of the most important men after taking a while to get back up to speed. Never flustered and that allows him to get on the ball in any situation and dictate play
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Aidan Denholm
The last two games have probably been the youngster’s best in a Hearts shirt to date. And what the boyhood Jambo would give to be part of a derby win! -
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Barrie McKay
It’s likely Naismith will revert back to the 3-5-2 (or 3-4-1-2) in order to get an extra body in the middle of the park. McKay can occupy the advanced midfielder role that Alex Lowry was earlier in the season. 9 of
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Lawrence Shankland
His record in these games is superb, as it is generally for Hearts. Continues to ignore speculation about his future to keep his levels high and that will be the case again -
Kenneth Vargas
Naismith likes to have that option of someone to run in behind with pace and Vargas can provide that ahead of Kyosuke Tagawa. GET MORE NEWS HERE
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