Hearts' form suggests it's going to be a walk in Hampden Park for the cup holders.

Craig Levein's side head to the national stadium on the back of three consecutive league defeats, their latest to today's opponents, and have gone five games without a win.

Sunday's 2-1 loss at Celtic Park means they have now been beaten four times by today's opponents since a 1-0 win at Tynecastle in August.

One of those was in their last meeting at Hampden, where Celtic won 3-0 in October's League Cup semi-final.

Celtic are not quite in the same league as the side dubbed the "Invincibles" after going 47 domestic games unbeaten under Brendan Rodgers in the 2016-17 season.

Rangers, as recently as two weeks ago, showed that the team under the care of Neil Lennon can be beaten.

But that is Celtic's only defeat in 14 games since being knocked out the Europa League by Valencia.

They are unbeaten in three seasons of domestic cup competition and haven't conceded a goal in four rounds leading up to the final, scoring 13 times.

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Ever wondered what a bus looks like pulling into a car park? Well, you're in luck.

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Brendan Rodgers would "absolutely" go back to manage Celtic in the future, the Leicester City manager has said.

“I was in the situation I was in when I left Liverpool - I had opportunities to go elsewhere, but I felt at that time, at Celtic, that it was a great opportunity to go in," the manager who left in February tells Premier Sports.

"The club were keen to bring me in, they were in a moment when Rangers were close and they were getting promoted. I went in and hopefully created a really good base.

“The challenge may come again because that was a real challenge to go in and that challenge may come in the future and I would have absolutely no hesitation going back. Incredible club."

Hearts will of course be without injured forward Steven Naismith. The Scotland striker will be watching from the stand this afternoon due to a knee injury, can his team do it without him?

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Neil Lennon has been recalling with BBC Scotland's Michael Stewart the moment he was asked to return to Celtic Park as interim boss after the departure of Brendan Rodgers to Leicester City.

Celtic's Callum McGregor almost brought team-mate Kieran Tierney to tears as they chatted about their friendship.

Watch below...

Scotland left-back Kieran Tierney is a surprise omission from Celtic's starting line-up.

It had been thought that, having been rested in recent weeks, he would return for the big game before undergoing a hernia operation.

Only three players - goalkeeper Scott Bain, centre-half Kristoffer Ajer and striker Mikey Johnston - survive in the Celtic line-up from Sunday's 2-1 win over Hearts in the Premiership.

Johnston's two goals at Celtic Park earn him a starting place, while Jonny Hayes looks like deputising at left-back in place of Tierney.

Scotland winger James Forrest and captain Scott Brown have recovered from injury to start.

Meanwhile, Karamoko Dembele, the 16-year-old midfielder who made his debut as a sub on Sunday, makes the bench.

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Sixteen-year-old Aaron Hickey starts for Hearts - only his third appearance for the Edinburgh side.

Striker Uche Ikpeazu does not make the starting line-up but is on the bench after injury, with Sean Clare and Steven MacLean leading the line for Craig Levein's side.

Midfielders Peter Haring and Arnaud Djoum have recovered from injury to play. but Olly Lee and Steven Naismith miss out.

In all, there are five changes from last weekend's league defeat by Celtic, with Conor Shaughnessy and Craig Wighton dropping to the bench and Liam Smith, Andy Irving and Lee not involved.

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Throwing up with nerves in the Hampden toilets. Finding out the opposition team days before the game. Celebrating with a five-day bender while being treated like Take That.

Gary Locke, Ryan McGowan, Danny Grainger and Ian Black have been sharing their memories of Hearts' last Scottish Cup final win - a 5-1 thumping of neighbours Hibernian in 2012.

Can the present men in maroon become the Tynecastle side's latest Hampden heroes?

There will be live TV, radio and text coverage of today's Scottish Cup final.

We're of course already under way with today's live text and both the BBC One Scotland Sportscene and Radio Scotland Sportsound (all frequencies) coverage starts at 14:00 BST.

There will also be Gaelic commentary on Radio Nan Gaidheal from 14:00.

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Heart of Midlothian: Zlamal, M Smith, Souttar, Berra, Hickey, Edwards, Haring, Djoum, Mulraney, Clare, MacLean.

Substitutes: Doyle, Shaughnessy, Bozanic, Wighton, Ikpeazu, Cochrane, Burns.

Celtic: Bain, Lustig, Simunovic, Ajer, Hayes, Brown, McGregor, Rogic, Forrest, Edouard, Johnston.

Substitutes: De Vries, Toljan, Bitton, Sinclair, Ntcham, Benkovic, Dembele.

Willie Collum is today's match referee and the 40-year-old has been telling BBC Scotland that he dreams of blowing the final whistle and leaving Hampden with nobody talking about his performance.

He says that, having lost both his parents in recent years, they will be in his thoughts as he heads down the tunnel before kick-off.

Read more.

Celtic, who have won the trophy a record 38 times, may be the overwhelming favourites today, but Hearts actually hold the upper hand in previous Scottish Cup finals between the pair.

However, it is more than 60 years since the sides last went head to head for the trophy.

On that occasion, in 1956, a crowd of nearly 133,000 gathered at Hampden to see Hearts prevail 3-1. Before that, the Tynecastle men won 4-3 in 1901 before Celtic ran out 3-0 winners six years later.

Of their recent meetings in earlier rounds, Celtic hammered the hosts 4-0 to reach the last 16 in 2014 after a 7-0 win at the same stage a year later. But a last-minute goal from former Celtic striker Craig Beattie gave Hearts a 2-1 win in the 2012 semi-final.

They went on to win the final - their eighth and most recent tournament win.

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Our Saturday gossip column might have made uncomfortable reading for interim Celtic boss Neil Lennon.

Apparently former Nurnberg head coach Michael Kollner has refused to comment to a German newspaper when asked about being in the running for the Celtic job.

Meanwhile, Hearts captain Christophe Berra has revealed that he and striker Steven MacLean prepared for the big day with a game of bowls.

Ikpeazu or MacLean? Dikamona or Shaughnessy?

Who do you think should be in Craig Levein's starting XI?

Rogic or Ntcham? Hayes or Sinclair?

Who would you pick in Celtic's cup final starting XI?

Has Celtic captain Scott Brown scored more Scottish Cup goals than Hearts striker Uche Ikpeazu?

Just one of the questions in our cup final quiz.

Celtic are on the brink of an unprecedented feat. Hearts 90 minutes away from an unlikely one.

Neil Lennon's side would complete a clean sweep of domestic trophies - a treble treble - should they win at Hampden Park in today's Scottish Cup final.

For Hearts' Craig Levein, what he has described as the "single single" would be a bright end to a season that started with such promise but has petered out since an early lead to the Scottish Premiership.

With both managers under pressure in their roles for differing reasons, there is more than just silverware at stake.

Stay with us for the build-up, live commentary and post-match reaction from the season finale.

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