Heart of Midlothian are top of the Scottish Premiership on merit. That is the message from Craig Halkett going into the top-of-the-table clash with Celtic at Tynecastle Park on Sunday.
The Jam Tarts have been at the summit since beating Falkirk 3-0 in Gorgie back in September. They were aided by their city rivals that day, going to Glasgow and drawing with Celtic.
In between that win over Falkirk and Sunday afternoon’s encounter, Hearts have played Celtic twice and won twice.
They have the opportunity to not only solidify their position at the top, taking another big step forward to league title glory, but also seeing Celtic fall even further behind.
Not that it is something on the players’ minds. Well, not publicly. The players will talk about not looking too much at the league table and what others do, but they know they deserve to be where they are.
“Personally, it is not something I am looking at. This is just another game we want to go and win. We know Celtic are always up challenging for the title, so we know how difficult the game is going to be. The position we are in in the league is not something we look at,” Halkett said.
“For the boys who have been here for a few years, our being so high in the table may feel a little unnatural, but for the boys in from abroad, they can just come in and ride with it.
“Hearts are on the top of the league and it is not the case that we should not be there. We are there on merit. It is just about trying to win every game.”
A quirk of the season and the maelstrom that has engulfed Celtic is that Hearts will now face their third different manager.
The win over Celtic at Tynecastle was Brendan Rodgers’ last game. The victory at Celtic Park in December was Wilfried Nancy’s first match of a short-lived spell.
Much has been made of the Martin O’Neill factor in the build-up, but it won’t impact the mindset from within the Hearts camp.
“As everyone could see when Wilfried Nancy came in, they played in a totally different style. One that took them a while to get to grips with, if they ever did,” Halkett said.
“But with Martin coming in, they have looked a lot more solid. The number of goals that they conceded before he came in was high for their standard, but they have sorted that out in the last couple of games.
“We have won the last couple of fixtures against them. There is no reason why we can’t do so again and make it a nine-point gap to them.”
Halkett may face a new challenge in Celtic’s new striker, Tomas Cvancara, who has joined on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach.
It is unclear whether he will be thrown into such a powder keg of a fixture, but if he is, Halkett and his fellow defenders will be prepared.
“The analysis guys here are brilliant and they will go through clips of their strikers through the week, what they are good at, what they are not good at,” he said.
“With a new player, you do not have the benefit of having played against him before, but you still go through the same process of watching all his clips. Just to get a wee idea of how to play them. You still do it even for players you have played against numerous times to see if they have changed anything.”
For Halkett, on a personal level, the game presents another opportunity to add to an increasingly strong case for Scotland World Cup consideration.
The 30-year-old has been the best centre-back in Scotland this season.
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“It is obviously something I would love to do, but for me it is important I keep focusing on my performances for Hearts,” he said.
If I can do as well as I can, do and we will see what happens. As much as I would love to be involved, it is not really under my control.”
The commanding defender will likely captain Hearts on Sunday. It is a role he will take on in the absence of the injured Lawrence Shankland.
Having already been aware of Cammy Devlin’s absence, he admitted that the news on the club’s top scorer was “not nice to hear”.
Rather than linger on what will be missed, Halkett reinforced the message that it is an opportunity for others to step up, whether that be new signings or others within the squad.
“The news on Shanks was not nice to hear. He has been brilliant for us this season and obviously, he is our captain. He brings so much more to the team than just goals, so to hear he is going to be out for the next few weeks is a hard one to take,” he said.
“But there are boys in his position who have been training every single week for this opportunity, and they will be chomping at the bit to play.
“With Beni [Baningime] out for the next couple of games as well, we are going to be quite stretched in midfield, but it is up to the other boys to step up.
“It is always good that the club is forward thinking like that [signing players] rather than just saying we have got people out injured, but the other players will just have to cope with it.
“It will just give that extra motivation to the players that even though there are new signings coming in, they want to make the positions their own.”
He added: “All the boys who are available have to get their minds on the game and try to train as well as we can.
“I don’t think you can say it has been the same 13 players who have played all season. The team has changed quite a lot and everyone who has come in has done a great job.
“It has been a collective effort, and it is just going to take a wee bit more of a collective effort over the next few weeks.
“I have been in since the start of the season, but for boys who maybe have not played as much as they want, it is a real chance to step up. There will be a lot of noise from the outside that we are losing key players, but within the club, we are looking to others to step up.”
