Hearts v Aberdeen, a fixture to get the juices flowing, according to Derek McInnes, who also identified added ingredients including a full-house and the focus of national TV with SkySports.
The head coach (pictured) admitted it had been a long and unusual week with the Tynecastle team not on duty in the William Hill Premiership until Monday at 20.00.
The players had Sunday and Monday off after the 3-0 victory over English Premiership combine, Sunderland, and they have experienced three days of tough training which included a bounce game in midweek against Premiership rivals Dundee. It finished 2-2 for the record.
He added: “Monday still feels a million miles away. Normally, you get to this point in the week (Thursday) and, obviously, they are making us wait for this game but I think it will be worth it. I do think the positive from the game being Monday allows us to get a few closer to playing through the injury side of it and it gives us a wee bit longer to get one or two players registered and signed as well.
“We will try to take the benefit of that but the game is everything you want for the first game of the season, a home game, a sell-out, up against a good team with good players, live on Sky, and it gets the juices gowing.
“We just want to make sure we are as prepared as we can and come Monday we have to be ready to go.
“I am pretty sure with the close season work we have done that we are ready, we look fit, we look competitive, we look motivated and it looks as if we have good options and the pre-season work, although it is never a true indication, plenty of goals scored (in the Premier Sports Cup and the friendly v Sunderland), clean sheets, and we want to keep this feeling as long as we can.
“We are well aware that issues around the corner and, hopefully, we can keep the feeling that we are all getting at the minute, going.”
And he declared: “The first game starts on Monday and we will try to come out of it with three points. Every manager this weekend will be trying to get that first win as quickly as possible and we are no different.”
