Steven Naismith has revealed Hearts have three injury doubts for their upcoming Celtic clash this weekend.

The Jambos make the trip to Parkhead on Saturday to play the league leaders but they could do so without key members of their squad who are nursing knocks this week in preparation for the journey. Liam Boyce has missed recent fixtures with a hamstring issue and only has an outside chance of featuring while Nat Atkinson is another who is yet to take part in full training through illness.

And Calem Nieuwenhof makes up the trio who could be sidelined which leaves Naismith with a few personnel decisions to make. He told the Evening News: “Natty has been ill so he is still not back in full training. We took a couple of knocks with some players not on the [training] pitch at the start of the week. I’m hoping none of them are serious.

“Calem Nieuwenhof has an issue with his hand so we are getting that checked out. It hasn’t got much better and it’s still swollen from the weekend. With it being a hand injury, we will just need to take the advice given. He can still run about but whether it’s okay for him to be involved or whether he needs time out, we will need to wait and see.

“Boycie is getting better, he’s back on the pitch. It was a hamstring injury so he gets past one stage and then, come the next stage, you need to push him to the limit and see if he can get past that. I wouldn’t say I’m 100 per cent confident he’ll be involved at the weekend but he’s got a chance.”

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