Hearts Head Coach Craig Levein has warned his players to expect a tough battle against Partick Thistle when the Jambos head to Firhill on Saturday for their Ladbrokes Premiership clash.
Levein told the official Hearts website:
“I’ve watched a lot of their games. They are playing much better than their results would indicate. I’m sure Alan Archibald will be looking at it and saying, ‘keep going lads, we’ll turn it around if we keep doing what we’re doing,’ and I believe that will be the case.
“You don’t go from being a top six team to a bottom end of the table team overnight. That doesn’t happen. They are much better than their points would indicate, so that means we have to be much better than sometimes people think we have to be in these matches.
“Our lads are working hard. They’re doing work in the gym, they’re doing work on the training ground. Confidence is a wonderful thing when you have it. When you haven’t got it then it’s a really difficult thing to fight against.”
Other than midfielder Arnaud Djoum, who is expected to be out of action for about a month with a medial ligament injury, Hearts have a full squad to pick from as they look to build on last week’s victory over Hamilton Academical.
A reminder to Hearts fans that the game tomorrow kicks off at 4.00pm because of the Rangers v Celtic game being played at lunchtime. Although Hearts have sold their 1,800 allocation, Thistle say there will be a limited amount of tickets for sale to away fans around 90 minutes before kick-off. These tickets will be sold on a first come, first served basis from a ticket booth at Firhill.
Author of The Team for Me - 50 Years of Following Hearts. Runs Mind Generating Success, a successful therapy practice in Edinburgh. Contact me if you want rid of any unwanted habits. Twitter @Mike1874
