Having suffered a 3rd consecutive away defeat and with Celtic and Rangers having narrowed the hole on the prime, Derek McInnes will probably be glad of some residence comforts as he appears to allay the narrative that his long-time leaders are cracking underneath the title strain.
The coming weeks will definitely be a check 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 may be twelfth man in the nice instances however can rapidly flip febrile in frustration.
Hearts stay unbeaten at residence in the Premiership this season, however since shedding on penalties to Falkirk in the Scottish Cup in January, they’ve drawn with Celtic and scraped three successive 1-0 wins.
The nervousness and pressure may at instances be lower 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 will not be but away from relegation hassle 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 most important challengers throughout Rangers’ monetary issues from 2014-18.
He will probably 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 in the ultimate levels to complete 15 factors behind.
The rising nervousness may clarify why, for the reason that begin of February, Hearts have scored simply 5 objectives from 77 photographs in the Premiership, a conversion fee of 6.5% – the bottom of any aspect in the competitors in this time.
Their xG/shot of 0.076 can also be the bottom of any aspect in the top-flight in this era. Dundee, in the meantime, prime each of those metrics since 1 February (15.2% conversion, 0.129 xG/shot).
The return from damage 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 Dark Blues on their newest seven journeys to Tynecastle.
