Jambos: Boss wary of backlash

GRAEME CROSER

HEARTS boss Craig Levein will warn his players to expect a backlash from Rangers this weekend.

Last season’s SPL champions are smarting in the wake of a surprise 2-0 defeat at Dunfermline on Sunday, a result which left them trailing league-leaders Celtic by eight points.

Levein believes Alex McLeish’s players will be eager to take out their frustrations at Ibrox this coming Saturday and with the likes of Mikel Arteta and Shota Arveladze set to return to the starting line-up he knows they will inevitably be a tougher proposition.

He said: "Every time we play Rangers it seems they are able to bring three or four players back from injury
and that could be the case again this weekend.

"They were weakened when they played at East End Park on Sunday, although that’s not to take anything away from Dunfermline who played really well.

"But when you look at the quality of some of the players they had missing and the fact they were trying to adjust to the artificial surface I think it all told in the end.

"This weekend they will have some of those players back, they’ll be back on grass and have the home crowd behind them.

"They’ll be smarting after the defeat and I’m in no doubt they will be fighting as hard as they can to make amends.

"Their pride will have been hurt and they will be at their most dangerous, that’s for sure."

While Rangers’ selection worries are easing, the Jambos will travel to Glasgow with a heavily-depleted squad with no fewer than four first-team regulars set to miss the game.

Andy Webster and Alan Maybury are banned, while captain Steven Pressley and top scorer Mark de Vries are injured.

The first three are all regular picks in Levein’s defence which will force the Gorgie chief into a major reshuffle.

He continued: "We have a few selection problems and it’s something I’m going to have to think about.

"We’ve a few defenders missing but Kevin McKenna is available and Robbie Neilson and Patrick Kisnorbo have shown their versatility in recent weeks so we have options."

Taken from the Scotsman