Neil McCann
Former Rangers & Hearts winger on BBC Sportsound

A header from Hearts captain Christophe Berra drifts over the top at one end and, soon after, a shot from Ryan Jack whizzes wide at the other.

Scott Arfield scored a hat-trick against Motherwell last time out and the Rangers midfielder has made a couple of good late runs so far, skewing a shot off target from the first and then narrowly failing to gather a ball through the middle. James Tavernier the supplier on both occasions.

As both sets of players snap into midfield tackles, Olly Lee spots Allan McGregor off his line and launches an ambitious shot from inside the centre circle. The Rangers keeper takes a couple of steps back and gathers comfortably.

First corner of the game goes Rangers. It's headed away into the path of Daniel Candeias but the winger's shot from the edge of the penalty area trundles wide.

Nikola Katic has won a couple of aerial jousts already. The Rangers defender had better get used to that as Hearts aim for the towering figure of Uche Ikpeazu.

A peep from John Beaton's whistle and we're up and running at a packed Tynecastle.

The teams are out... Not long to go now as Tynecastle basks in late morning sunshine. Hearts have the chance to leapfrog Hibs and Rangers will want to delay the Celtic title party for as long as possible.

Hearts manager Craig Levein tells Sportsound that his squad "isn't down to the bare bones", due to injuries, adding: "I’m relaxed about the situation".

Reflecting on Hearts' poor recent record against Rangers he continued: "We haven’t defended properly and have made individual errors at critical points in the games. We need to stop making errors and defend set-pieces better and then we have a good chance of winning

"I’m hoping we can put everything together and get something from this game today."

Image source, SNS

Late change for Hearts. Sean Clare has taken ill and Craig Wighton is promoted from the bench.

Clevid Dikamona is added to the replacements.

Hearts manager Craig Levein tells BBC Sportsound that Peter Haring's injury is "not too serious" and says the Austrian midfielder should be fit and ready for the Scottish Cup final.

Michael Stewart
Former Scotland midfielder on BBC Sportsound

Rangers manager Steven Gerrard tells RangersTV: "The players need to start with the right intensity because sometimes after a break it can take a bit of time to get that back as we experienced after the winter break. We'll be on to them to make sure they come out of the blocks well.

"These are all big games. All the different teams have different targets in the split. We've got our own. We want to consolidate second place as soon as possible. We won't be taking our foot off the gas from now until the end."

Image source, SNS

Neil McCann
Former Rangers winger on BBC Sportsound

Michael Stewart
Former Hearts midfielder on BBC Sportsound

It was suggested recently by one of the red tops that Hearts defender John Souttar is a summer transfer target for Rangers.

Central defence certainly looks like an area for Steven Gerrard to work on. However, Souttar, 22, is under contract at Tynecastle until 2022 and would not come cheap.

Hearts boss Craig Levein poured cold water on those rumours this week, saying: "I'm not sure John would want to go there to be honest."

Image source, SNS

Rangers' win at Tynecastle earlier this season was not without controversy.

Hearts boss Craig Levein got into hot water for his comments on referee Bobby Madden, saying: "It was like playing against 12 men."

The winner from Alfredo Morelos came from an offside position, Morelos and Christophe Berra were involved in series of skirmishes on and off the ball and Scott Arfield was sent off for a reckless challenge on home goalkeeper Zdenek Zlamal.

John Beaton is today's ref.

Image source, SNS

Rangers have had the measure of Hearts this season, with two comfortable wins at Ibrox and a 2-1 success at Tynecastle in early December.

The men in maroon are on an eight-game winless streak against today's visitors, with Hearts not having beaten Rangers since they dished out a 4-1 tonking in Gorgie back in February 2017.

Image source, SNS

Image source, BBC Sport

Hearts: Zlamal, Smith, Souttar, Berra, Burns, Bozanic, Lee, Djoum, Clare, Mulraney, Ikpeazu.

Substitutes: Doyle, Shaughnessy, Wighton, MacLean, Cochrane, Edwards, Brandon.

Rangers: McGregor, Tavernier, Goldson, Katic, Flanangan, Davis, Kamara, Jack, Arfield, Candeias, Defoe.

Substitutes: Foderingham, Worrall, Halliday, McCrorie, Polster, Middleton, Lafferty.

Image source, BBC Sport

Rangers have had a decent break since their 3-0 win at Motherwell on 7 April.

Manager Steven Gerrard is back in the dugout after serving a one-match touchline ban at Fir Park and he sticks with the same XI, with a fit-again Joe Worrall on the bench.

Forwards Ryan Kent and Alfredo Morelos are still suspended.

Image source, SNS