Heart of Midlothian travel to Paisley to face St Mirren on Saturday afternoon with Steven Naismith’s side chasing back-to-back league wins after comfortably despatching Aberdeen 2-0 at Tynecastle last week.
After a gruelling fixture list early on in the season as the team juggled domestic fixtures and European qualifiers, Hearts returned to form against Barry Robson’s men in fine fashion, taking an early lead through Yutaro Oda before Liam Boyce’s second-half strike sealed the three points. The Japanese star will be absent, however, due to a knock picked up during the first-half of the win.
St Mirren should provide a stiffer test, though, in front of what could be a sell-out crowd at the SMiSA Stadium. The high-flying Buddies are unbeaten in the league this term and occupy second place in the table, and they won’t be shy of confidence heading into this encounter. It should be a fascinating fixture.
Should Naismith stick with the same starting XI in the hope of a repeat performance? Or are a few changes required to freshen things up? Our writers have their say below.
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Joel Sked
The big news impacting the potential starting line-up is Oda's injury. The 22-year-old has earned the admiration of the Hearts support with his industry in the wide position and he has provided big moments so far in his career. His work-rate and willingness to get in the box, plus Kenneth Vargas' directness and pace, provides a nice balance to Lawrence Shankland and Liam Boyce in the middle. Alan Forrest was the man chosen to replace Oda against Aberdeen. The former Livingston star has had his criticism but impressed off the bench.
Because of the way St Mirren play, a deep defensive line, combative midfield, ready to pounce on any opportunities to break forward there is an argument that Alex Lowry would be the player to help unlock such a defence. However, Naismith may see him as an option of the bench when the game opens up and there is more space, not too dissimilar to the role he played against St Johnstone. It may be wise for Forrest to start on the left and play against Ryan Strain and ensure the Buddies star is tracked diligently. It would allow Vargas to try to get at and behind Scott Tanser.
Shankland has spoken before about how difficult it is to play against St Mirren's three-man defence because of the lack of space they offer. Boyce's presence should help in that regard as they dovetail.
The defence picks itself. The injury to Alex Cochrane and Odel Offiah's lack of training following his scare gives the four that played against Aberdeen another chance to continue building towards a settled backline.
In the middle of the park, Cammy Devlin's performance against Aberdeen should ensure he keeps his place. Peter Haring's experience would normally be welcomed in such a fixture but due to St Mirren's ability to make it difficult to play through it is the perfect opportunity to allow Calem Nieuwenhof an opportunity in his preferred role where he can provide verticality with the ball which will help cut through and open up the opposition.
Predicted line-up: Clark; Atkinson, Kent, Rowles, Kingsley; Devlin, Nieuwenhof; Vargas, Boyce, Forrest; Shankland.
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James Cairney
The win over Aberdeen provided plenty of encouragement after an indifferent start to the new season, and so I think it could be tricky for Naismith to make sweeping changes to a winning team.
The back four and the goalkeeper pretty much picks itself at this point. Craig Gordon is edging closer to a return following that horror double-leg break suffered against Dundee United but while he regains his fitness, Zander Clark has been a more-than-capable deputy and should retain the gloves for this one.
The defence, too, should be relatively straightforward. With Alex Cochrane out for the foreseeable future, Stephen Kingsley is the obvious choice at left-back. The central defensive partnership of Kye Rowles and Frankie Kent looked good against Aberdeen – particularly Rowles, who had endured a sluggish start to the season up until that point – and I can’t see Naismith changing anything here. The return of Odel Offiah provides some competition for Nathaniel Atkinson at right-back but the Australian’s impressive form of late makes him a shoo-in, in my opinion. It would be no surprise to see Toby Sibbick get some game-time, too: the Englishman’s physicality could prove useful against this hard-working St Mirren team.
Cammy Devlin – arguably Hearts’ best player in the win over Aberdeen – is nailed on to start in midfield, but the question of who partners the Australian in the middle is a tricky one. Peter Haring got the nod last weekend but the big Austrian looked off the pace against the Dons, and was perhaps fortunate to avoid being sent off. I would expect Haring to drop out of the team, with Calem Nieuwenhof replacing him. A couple of niggles have limited the summer signing’s game-time since he pitched up in Gorgie but he showed flashes of quality against Aberdeen and may well have earned a spot in the starting XI.
Further forward, the team largely picks itself again. Oda's injury opens the door for Alex Lowry to stake his claim on the left. Kenneth Vargas, meanwhile, continues to go from strength to strength and it surely won’t be long before he notches his first goal in maroon. With St Mirren likely to field a back five, finding gaps in between the wing-backs and the wide centre-backs – and exploiting them – will be crucial.
Up top, it’s hard to see beyond Lawrence Shankland and Boyce. The former is simply too important to drop, while the latter scored his first goal in over a year in the 2-0 win over Aberdeen. Naismith seems fairly wedded to the partnership, and I can’t see that changing this weekend.
Predicted line-up: Clark; Atkinson, Kent, Rowles, Kingsley; Devlin, Nieuwenhof; Vargas, Boyce, Lowry; Shankland.
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