Having suffered a 3rd consecutive away defeat and with Celtic and Rangers having narrowed the hole on the prime, Derek McInnes might be glad of some house comforts as he appears to be like to allay the narrative that his long-time leaders are cracking underneath the title stress.
The approaching weeks will definitely be a take a look at of his managerial experience, beginning with the go to of a aspect led by former Hearts caretaker and captain Steven Pressley.
Pressley is aware of all about how the Tynecastle crowd might be twelfth man within the good occasions however can rapidly flip febrile in frustration.
Hearts stay unbeaten at house within the Premiership this season, however since shedding on penalties to Falkirk within the Scottish Cup in January, they’ve drawn with Celtic and scraped three successive 1-0 wins.
The nervousness and rigidity may at occasions be reduce with a knife and Dundee arrive buoyed by their two-goal, stoppage-time fightback to attract Sunday’s metropolis derby.
Eight factors away from St Mirren and Kilmarnock, Pressley’s aspect should not but away from relegation bother however are edging there after 5 unbeaten video games.
McInnes has additionally been right here earlier than, main Aberdeen to 4 consecutive second-place finishes as they turned Celtic’s essential challengers throughout Rangers’ monetary issues from 2014-18.
He might be forgiven if he’s haunted by the reminiscence of the 2015-16 season, when his Dons have been solely three factors behind Celtic with 14 matches to play earlier than faltering within the ultimate phases to complete 15 factors behind.
The growing nervousness may clarify why, for the reason that begin of February, Hearts have scored simply 5 targets from 77 pictures within the Premiership, a conversion price of 6.5% – the bottom of any aspect within the competitors on this time.
Their xG/shot of 0.076 can be the bottom of any aspect within the top-flight on this interval. Dundee, in the meantime, prime each of those metrics since 1 February (15.2% conversion, 0.129 xG/shot).
The return from harm of Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland, together with key midfielder Cammy Devlin, ought to assist enhance these stats for Hearts.
They thumped Dundee 4-0 on their final go to in November, however McInnes would little question accept a repeat of the 1-0 win at Dens Park in January and a sixth victory over the Darkish Blues on their newest seven journeys to Tynecastle.
