When Hibs defeated us at Fir Park, there was a sense of doom and gloom among the ‘Well fans. It was acknowledged that while we would battle hard, we would still struggle to avoid the drop. Now, when we are indulging in sober reflection, we may still feel that we’re in for a long season but the win over Celtic allows us to dream once more. A win against Hearts looks unlikely – our record in Edinburgh is laughable – but nobody fancied us against Celtic either. If we can produce another shock, surely we must then harbour top six aspirations? There will be very few teams this season who defeat Celtic and win at Tynecastle.
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The concern on the pitch will centre around the handling of the dangerous Hearts pair of de Vries and Valois. Daniel Sengewald will retain his place to battle de Vries in the air but if we play 4-4-2 that means Corrigan gets pushed out to right back. Valois is a tricky customer and given Martyn’s lack of form out wide, this is a vital one against one match we may lose. The alternative is to continue with the 3-5-2 that finished the game against Celtic. This allows the two big men to match up while passing the responsibility of handling Valois to Dougie Ramsay. Having seen Valois on television, he could be the key to beating Hearts. If we stop him, we have a very good chance of cutting off the supply line to de Vries.
At the other end of the park, Hearts appear to be surviving without Anti Niemi.
Roddy McKenzie has been kicking around Tynecastle for years and he is now seizing his chance. However, Faddy will be on a tremendous high and with the confidence in our team soaring, it is likely we will be able to find the net at least once.
Will de Vries and Valois outgun McFadden and co? Hearts are unbeaten at Tynecastle this season but with a bit of luck we’ll escape with a point in another TV thriller.
Hearts 2-2 Motherwell.
Have a look at the history of matches between 'Well and Hearts.
The current league table is here.