Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers tells BBC Sportsound: "We have to be cautious with Callum (McGregor) because he's such an influential player for us. Hopefully, he will only miss a game or two. He's got another scan on Wednesday just to see exactly how bad it is."

Rodgers also suggests McGregor will not be involved for the Scotland friendlies against Netherlands and Northern Ireland later this month.

"I don't think so," he says. "He'll probably need some rest and recovery."

On today's challenge, Rodgers adds: "Go and perform. We know what the end goals are and where we want to be come May.

"The second half against Motherwell and during the week against Dundee was everything we want in our game, the speed, intensity, quality of finishing and that relentless mentality."

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Hearts head coach Steven Naismith tells BBC Sportsound: "There's a couple of boys that have struggled with injury. With the demands of the week, we want to make sure that we're fresh and we've got an energy because that's going to be important today.

"We need to make sure that we're up for that fight and ready for what to expect in the early part of the game. On top of that, we're at home. We need to be more aggressive than we were when we played them here at home. And we need to carry a threat.

"We need energy, we need to be at it because Celtic are a quality team with threats but, if we're at it, we can get the initiative of the game."

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Across his two spells with Celtic, Brendan Rodgers has beaten Hearts nine times and lost three. No other opponent has managed as many wins against Rodgers in Scotland.

Celtic have won on their past five trips to Gorgie in all competitions, scoring 14 goals.

Prior to December's home defeat, they had been on a run of 10 successive victories over the Jambos.

Lawrence Shankland hit the net in both of those games against Celtic, which is no surprise really since the Hearts striker seems to score most weeks.

The 28-year-old is on 26 goals for the season, 15 of those coming in the last 14 games games.

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We've had two away victories in this fixture this season.

Celtic romped to a 4-1 success at Tynecastle in October, but Hearts got their revenge in Glasgow in December with a 2-0 win - their first celebration in the city's east end since 2009.

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Celtic skipper Callum McGregor misses a league match for the first time this season.

The Scotland midfielder was replaced at half-time in the 7-1 demolition of Dundee after feeling pain in the Achilles area.

His place goes to Paulo Bernardo in the only change of personnel.

That means striker Kyogo is once again among the substitutes.

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Hearts are without Frankie Kent and Kenneth Vargas, while Nathan Atkinson, Cammy Devlin and Scott Fraser drop to the bench following Wednesday's 1-1 draw with Hibs.

Central defenders Kye Rowles and Tony Sibbick are recalled, while there are also starts for Dexter Lembikisa, Jorge Grant and Beni Baningime.

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Hearts: Clark, Lembikisa, Sibbick, Kingsley, Rowles, Cochrane, Baningime, Grant, Nieuwenhof, Forrest, Shankland.

Substitutes: Gordon, Atkinson, Devlin, Denholm, Pollock, Tait, Fraser, Tagawa, Wilson.

Celtic: Hart, Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor, O'Riley, Iwata, O'Reilly, Bernardo, Yang, Maeda, Idah.

Substitutes: Bain, Lagerbielke, Palma, Kyogo, Kuhn, Holm, Kelly, Ralston, Welsh.

Celtic fans may have an extra spring in their step this morning.

That's because top spot in the Premiership is up for grabs after Motherwell's surprise win away to Rangers yesterday.

The champions are two points behind going into this lunchtime visit to Tynecastle.

Hearts prevailed when the teams last met and have lost just once in the 13 games since, so this one promises to be an absolute cracker.