Craig Halkett is out of Heart of Midlothian's clash with Rangers due to a knee issue.
The centre-back has been replaced in Derek McInnes' starting XI by Frankie Kent, one of two changes to the team from the win over Falkirk.
Stephen Kingsley is in for the suspended Harry Milne.
McInnes, speaking to Hearts TV, revealed Halkett "jarred" his knee in training on Thursday.
A scan has taken place and it is not thought to be anything serious. He should be available for the Hibs game on December 27.
🚨 Team news 🚨
Derek McInnes makes 2⃣ changes to the Hearts XI with Harry Milne replaced by Stephen Kingsley and Frankie Kent in for Craig Halkett.
Beni Baningime is on the bench.
💭 Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/9Z9FB0xZMI— Hearts Standard (@HeartsStandard_) December 21, 2025
“Craig, unfortunately, jarred his knee on Thursday. Frankie comes in for him," McInnes said.
"We’ve had him scanned and, thankfully, there’s nothing sinister going on. It just needs to settle down. We have just run out of days but there’s a good chance for him to be fit for Hibs next week, so we take the good with the bad with that.
"Unfortunately for Craig, he misses out, but I’m very fortunate as a manager that we have somebody of Frankie’s experience and the type of player he is to come in and do the job for us today."
The good news for Hearts is the return of Beni Baningime to the squad. He is one of nine subs, alongside Craig Gordon, Jamie McCart, Elton Kabangu, Christian Borchgrevink, Blair Spittal, Alan Forrest, James Wilson and Sabah Kerjota.
There was a surprise with the Rangers XI with the return of Bojan Miovski to the starting XI. The striker was a doubt, while they start with three centre-backs, including James Tavernier and Dujon Sterling.
“It’s a game over the years which has always brought a lot of drama and a lot of interest, and obviously the fact of where we are in the league, there is a lot more spotlight on it,” McInnes said.
"It’s a game live on TV, sold out, there is a lot on the game for both teams. We’re at home, and we just want to impose ourselves on the game. We expect to win the game if we turn up, but we need to do a lot right in the game for that to be the case.
“We need the supporters to stay with the team because Rangers have a lot of good players and, at times, they will cause us problems. We have to be confident with our work, show the right intent, and hopefully we can make it a good day’s work for us.”
He added: “Last time out, when we played Rangers at Ibrox, they were a totally possession-based team. This team aren’t.
“They are far more pragmatic in what they do. They don’t really commit too many bodies forward - unless they are losing the game and they chase the game and chase results. They are very pragmatic in their way of playing. They dovetail between a [back] five and a four and they normally have plenty bodies behind the ball.”
