Celtic game finds Hearts aflutter

Scottish Premier League leaders Celtic FC will bid to put a disappointing midweek result in the UEFA Champions League behind them as they entertain second-placed Heart of Midlothian FC on Saturday.

Lisbon blow
The Scottish champions' hopes of reaching the knockout stages of the competition for the first time suffered a setback on Wednesday when SL Benfica won 3-0 in Lisbon to move within two points of their Glasgow rivals in the race for second spot in Group F.

Big lead
However, on the domestic front, Celtic have a greater margin for error with a ten-point advantage over their nearest challengers, and manager Gordon Strachan is confident his men can maintain their habit of winning domestic matches after the exertions of UEFA Champions League football.

Qualified success
"At the moment, we seem to be winning league games after European ties and that's all you can ask," said Strachan. "Performances have not been great but we have been winning and that's what we are after, one way or another. Hopefully that will be the case again on Saturday."

Balde quandary
Strachan faces a dilemma over whether to restore centre-back Dianbobo Balde to the starting lineup at the expense of Gary Caldwell, who was at fault for two of the goals at the Estádio da Luz, but one player who will certainly feature is Aiden McGeady.

Revenge mission
The 20-year-old Irish international, who scored on his debut against Hearts two years ago, is on a mission to avenge Celtic's 2-1 defeat at Tynecastle on 6 August, their only reverse of the campaign so far. "We didn't play as well as we can in that game and that's why Hearts came out on top," said the midfielder. "We will obviously be looking to get a bit of revenge this weekend to give us a decent lead at the top of the table."

Hearts unrest
For their part, Hearts find themselves in the middle of a crisis with former Belarus coach Eduard Malofeev holding the reins while manager Valdas Ivanauskas takes time out to recover from a stress-related illness. Last week the club's majority shareholder, Vladimir Romanov, threatened to sell his players "to Kilmarnock [FC] or whoever would have them", prompting a terse statement from captain Steven Pressley that there was "significant unrest" within the squad.

Crisis management
Hardly ideal preparation for a match against the title-holders, although assistant coach John McGlynn is confident the players can focus on the job in hand. "We just get on with it as normal," said McGlynn. "Psychologically it would give the players a boost if they could win this game."