Robbie Neilson has urged Hearts to leapfrog Rangers into second place with a win on Saturday.
The Jambos are just three points behind their weekend opponents going into a hectic run of Premiership and Europa Conference League matches. After the Light Blues visit Tynecastle, Fiorentina are in town next Thursday, with Hearts heading to Florence a week later, four days after a trip to Kilmarnock.
Aberdeen, Celtic, RFS and Ross County complete an eight-game October schedule for the capital club, who finish off their Euro group stage campaign in Turkey against Istanbul Basaksehir at the start of November. It’s a schedule that is sure to put Neilson’s squad to the test but he's determined to remain strong in the less glamorous matches as well. Third position suggests that his players are coping well with the extra demands placed on them this season, and moving up a place by beating the Gers would provide a big boost at the start of a punishing month.
It would see Neilson come full circle since first leaving the club back in November 2016. His side beat Rangers 2-0 at Tynecastle in his last match in charge before heading south to MK Dons.
Since returning four years later, he’s guided the club back to the Premiership at the first time of asking (again) and reached the Scottish Cup final twice. However, three points against Gio van Bronkchorst’s men would see him back to where he was at the end of a successful first spell in charge.
“We’ve been waiting for it for a couple of weeks now and we’re really looking forward to the game,” he said. “It’s an opportunity for us. We’re sitting three points behind them and if we get a result, we can go ahead of them on goal difference so it’s a massive game for the club.
“We always take it game by game but when we’re playing at Tynecastle, we expect to win every game and it’ll be the same on Saturday. There’s no doubt we’re playing against a quality team with a lot of international players. They've had this wee break to prepare for it as well, but we believe going into the game that we can win it.”
Rather than have seven days between games to rest and recover, Neilson is relishing having Thursdays and Sundays filled up in his diary. And he’d rather be fighting on two fronts than watching on as others jet off to the continent to take on some of its top teams.
“I’m delighted,” he told Sky Sports. “It’s different from what we’re used to. Generally we’ll have Saturday-Saturday preps, but for these European games we have them in between.
“But it’s what we want to do. We want to be a big club and play on these big stages in big games. We have to cope with that and to the players’ credit, we’ve coped with that so far.
“There’s a mental aspect because you’ve got the high of the big games and then have to go and win on a Sunday, but we’ve coped with that.. We’re sitting in third position with an opportunity if we win on Saturday to go into second, which would be magnificent for us.
“This six week period is really, really important for our season because we’ve got a number of European games - four to go - and we have the league campaign so we have to stay strong.”
Craig Halkett is doubtful to face Rangers after aggravating a hamstring injury in the 2-0 win over RFS before the international break. He may feature, but could be left out again to ensure he’s fit to face La Viola in midweek.
“We’re still pushing with Craig,” said Neilson. “It’ll be touch and go for Saturday but we hope to have him back for the Thursday game against Fiorentina. Other than that it’s Boyce and Baningime who are the two out.”
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