After playing three of the last four on the road, Heart of Midlothian will now play the next two at home.
In fact, four of Hearts’ next six are at Tynecastle Park, starting with Falkirk.
Last week, Derek McInnes hatched a specific game plan for Ibrox and there will no doubt be a few changes for a game that his side will be expected to dominate.
One of those is enforced, although Oisin McEntee’s shoulder injury is not as bad as first feared and he should return in the near future.
At home, the Hearts boss may return to a front two, which will likely have a knock-on effect on the midfield set-up.
Craig Cairns looks at how Hearts could line up in a vital match in the Scottish Premiership run-in.
Right-back
With Oisin McEntee out injured, the question again is: who will play at right-back? In terms of how Hearts set up at Ibrox, Michael Steinwender was the obvious replacement when the Irishman was taken off injured early in the game.
For Falkirk at home, however, a match in which Hearts need to get a result to keep the initiative in the title race, McInnes may favour a more attacking option in Jordi Altena.
He did so for the previous match against Falkirk, and while that match ended in disappointment, McInnes may not be put off by doing something similar, as that game came when his team had "run out of legs".
Midfield
In that match, Tomas Magnusson was just ahead of the Dutchman, playing a tucked-in role on the right of midfield. That gave Altena the space to get forward, something he did to great effect on his debut versus Livingston at the start of the year.
With Harry Milne and Alexandros Kyziridis doubling up on the other side, the right-back was given licence to push forward. Magnusson, with just one goal to his name at that point, spurned two excellent opportunities in the narrow win. It is one of the games McInnes was referring to recently when he said the midfielder should have a few more goals by now.
A similar approach could be implemented on Saturday. The shape gives up a bit of space on the right side, which can still be covered by Magnusson or one of the forwards, but it allows Hearts to play with a third midfielder and a front two.
Ageu and Islam Chesnokov were both substituted at half time last weekend and it could mean both drop out for this one. It is a difficult one with Chesnokov: is this more of a fixture to fairly judge him on than his first two starts or would he be more suited, for now, to be used off the bench when more space opens up?
Making your first start in a scrappy Edinburgh derby and your next one at Ibrox in a top-of-the-table clash is being thrown in at the deep end.
The same can be said for Ageu after the Brazilian made his first start since May against Rangers on Sunday.
Up front
Claudio Braga played as a No.9 last weekend, but McInnes has favoured a front two in most fixtures this season, especially at home.
That would mean Landry Kabore being brought back in after starting on the bench at Ibrox. The space on the right mentioned above would give Altena room to work in, but it is also an area that Kabore likes to run into when making runs in behind.
Braga likes to come to ball more, meaning he would be asked to play a slightly deeper role, similar to what he did in recent games against Hibernian and Dundee United.
Other possibilities
It is of course possible that either or both of Chesnokov and Ageu retain their place in the starting XI. There is also the potential for Rogers Mato to make his first start, depending on how match-sharp he is judged to be.
Mato is someone who McInnes sounded keen to get into his team quickly – unlike some others who have or are taking time to gain the manager’s trust from the start of matches.
Take Sabah Kerjota, for example. There has been a growing clamour for the Albanian to start, especially in the wake of recent defeats, though it is unlikely he will be in the line-up if Altena starts at right-back.
