Derek McInnes confirmed that Stephen Kingsley, Craig Halkett and Beni Baningime are all back in contention for the weekend trip to Livingston, however, the news on Tomas Magnusson was less positive.
The trio are set to return having missed the 1-0 victory over Dundee prior to the international break, with Stuart Findlay also in contention, however, Harry Milne and Tomas Magnusson will miss out through injury.
Speaking to the media ahead of Sunday’s showdown, McInnes said:
“Kingsley's back in, Halkett's fine, after missing last time, he's back. Magnusson has been training and had a mask fitted and was training absolutely fine, but he's picked up a thigh strain now, while doing some shooting on Wednesday, so he'll miss the game, so further investigation on him, to see how he is.
“Harry and Stu are progressing well, the game will come too quick for Harry but might still have a chance of Stu being involved. He's had a good week's work with the medical team and will train tomorrow, and we'll see how we are after that.
“Beni is fine, because prior to the Dundee game he hadn't done a lot of training, but he's had a full week's work now, so grateful to get Beni back and back in good health to be honest, because even the last couple of weeks, when he's been available, he's not really been training.
“That just leaves big Craig in goals, Calem Nieuwenhof and Ageu, but young Finlay Pollock is part of the ones that have been back training.”
The Jambos head to West Lothian on Sunday and despite the stop-start nature of recent weeks, the head coach admits it’s been ideal for players that need a break as well as players building up their work after injury.
“I think for us, we play the games that come our way. Sometimes, that’s a busy schedule, sometimes not so busy and spread out. I think from our point of view we got some benefit, certainly the likes of Kingsley and Stu and Harry getting a bit closer to things, and Beni having a free weekend last weekend in Scotland were involved.
“On the back of beating Dundee we were keen to keep the whole thing going as well, so it's just the way it is. We've got seven games to go and we're in a good position. I think for us, we just want to go into the split in good form, with good points tallies, best points tallies we possibly can get, and to do that we're going to have to deal with a couple of really tough games, starting on Sunday at Livingston.
“I know Livingston lost their last game and they've struggled for wins this season, there's no getting away from that, but they've been really competitive, I think they've drawn four out of the last five, and drawn with Hibs and Rangers and good teams, so there's a real competitive element to Livingston's team, and any time I've been a manager going to Livingston over the years, it's always been a tough venue and a tough fixture, so we've got that to contend with, and our full attention is on that one.”
You can watch Derek's press conference in full on Hearts TV.
