Hibs face Hearts in a game with lots to play for

Don’t Look Down could be the Hibees mantra

Today’s Edinburgh derby is a tricky one for Hibs in that they may not know where they want to look. Fourth place is very much up for grabs with Motherwell being just a point ahead and the two sides clashing at Fir Park during the week.

John Hughes will know that a win today followed by a positive result in Lanarkshire on Wednesday night could see his club going into the final day of the season having secured a top four finish.

However, the nagging sensation in the back of most Hibees minds will relate to looking back over their shoulder.

Hearts are six points behind their Edinburgh rivals and have a much poorer goal difference so a draw would virtually ensure the Jambos finish in sixth spot. This means the Tynecastle club have to come for the win, which would then open up the possibility of Hibs being dragged down to sixth themselves.

Hearts have been quite fortunate in the SPL post-fixture split lottery as usual. It is quite common for the Tynecastle club to be inconvenienced by being sent to Ibrox after the split and although that happened again this season, at least this time they were supposed to be going there. That is not always the case.

However, there are no moans from the Jambos this time as they have their final two games of the season at home and when you consider they play away at Hibs today, that means their final three games of the season are all in Edinburgh.

That’s going to save time and money for the Jambo’s, giving them a bit more cash to put aside for their summer holidays.

The main Tynecastle talk this week has revolved around Michael Stewart, his not automatically getting back the captaincy and whether he will be around next season.

If we were being mischievous we would say it was about time he transferred back to Hibs but if Stewart moves on this summer, it is likely to be away from the Jambos.

Hibs have suspensions and injury worries to contend with for this match.

Sol Bamba, Darren McCormack and Kevin McBride are suspended, Chris Hogg will be missing and there are doubts over the fitness of Liam Miller.

Hearts are unable to rely on Jose Goncalves, Marian Kello, Janos Balogh and Marc Ridger but they are more hopeful at some other players being passed fit whilst Eggert Jonsson is available again after suspension.

The 12:30 kick off ensures that a winning team will have plenty of time to celebrate, in fact, the long weekend means that there is almost a dangerous amount of celebration time available for the winner of the Edinburgh derby.

Which capital club will be top dog today?

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