League leaders Hearts will sit at the summit of the Scottish Premiership on Christmas for the first time since 1991, and victory over Rangers would deliver an early present for the Gorgie faithful on Sunday afternoon.
Derek McInnes has enjoyed a stunning start to his Tynecastle tenure. Under his guidance, Hearts have surged to a six-point lead over Celtic, suffering just a single defeat in seventeen matches. While talk of a genuine title charge now dominates the conversation, McInnes remains focused on the process, urging his side to simply “keep improving” despite their dominant start.
“The motivation has to keep getting better and stronger. We’ve got to understand that the longer we’re up there, there’s a bit more on these games against Hearts at the minute.”
Impressive away victories over Falkirk and Celtic had broken Hearts’ four-match winless run, and reextended their lead to six points. McInnes insists there is “no pressure” on his side, as they look to extend their unbeaten home record.
I’m enjoying where we are. You’ve got to enjoy this, and I keep saying to the players, ‘You’ve done so well to get here’.
“We have to understand that we’ve done a lot right to get to where we’re at, and we have to do so much more to keep us there. The other pressures and things, I actually think we’re all quite relaxed about it.”
“So at the moment, I don’t think there is pressure on anybody at the club. We’re all just enjoying what we’re doing.”
Rangers present the next test on Sunday. Despite a tumultuous start to the campaign, the Ibrox side has found a rhythm under new boss Danny Rohl, securing an impressive 20 points from a possible 24.
The visitors will also take confidence from Rangers’ impressive record at Tynecastle, remaining unbeaten there since February 2020. McInnes acknowledged the turnaround that Rohl has engineered since taking the helm.
“Rangers have managed to navigate some tough games and get some decent results since Danny has come in, and credit to him for that.
I think it’s 20 points out of 24, which is good shooting and just spoke out there about how difficult it is to get consistency in the Premier League with how tight it all is”
From the Rangers team that we played early in the season, Russell’s team were far more possession-based and try to dominate. We’re probably playing against a different Rangers team in terms of approach, but it is working for them at the minute.”
However, Hearts have shone against the Glasgow giants on every occasion this season, with back-to-back victories over Celtic and a maiden Ibrox victory since 2014. McInnes motivates his side to keep getting “stronger” as the campaign progresses.
“We’ve got to understand that the longer we’re up there, there’s a bit more on these games against Hearts at the minute.”
“There’s been a lot of high-profile games recently. Every game seems to be bigger than the next one. Sell-out at Celtic Park, sell-out at Falkirk, sell-out Sunday, sell-out at the Edinburgh derby, sell-out at the home game against Livingston. These are brilliant games to be involved in.
“We’re exactly where we want to be in terms of that. For us to maintain it, we have to acknowledge that individually, we need to improve as players. As a team, we’re going to have to keep improving. That goes without saying.”
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