HEARTS have been handed a glorious chance to make the Europa League group stages and Tynecastle will be rocking for their play-off showdown with FC Zurich.
Robbie Neilson's men put themselves in a great position to make some serious money by qualifying for the groups after last week's first leg against the Swiss champions in St Gallen.
They got off to a flier thanks to Lawrence Shankland's penalty, but they collapsed in a disastrous three-minute spell later in the half and it could have been worse if it hadn't been for veteran Scotland keeper Craig Gordon saving them.
But they would have taken that scoreline for the return leg at what should be a raucous Gorgie showdown.
Hearts were able to rotate against Celtic at the weekend and although Neilson felt they were hard done by, he will be satisfied they got through that relatively unscathed in terms of injuries, although central defender Craig Halkett is set to miss out after being injured in Switzerland.
It's been well publicised how badly FCZ have started their season domestically, but they produced their best performance of the season against Hearts and followed that up with a comfortable win in the Swiss Cup.
How the bookies view it
Hearts must win to go through and VBet's price of 13/8 is the best you will get. Zurich are 15/8 with Coral and the draw is 12/5 with bet365.
To qualify, Hearts are 23/10 outsiders with Boylesports and the visitors are warm 2/5 favourites to go through with SportNation.
Recent head to heads
Here's coverage of FC Zurich's 2-1 first leg win over Hearts last week with all the goals coming before the interval.
Players to watch
Lawrence Shankland has already grabbed three goals in five games for Hearts and also takes the penalties. He is 7/4 with bet365 to net on Thursday.
Zurich's Nigerian hitman Tosin Aiyegun didn't get off the bench against Hearts but netted a hat-trick in their weekend cup romp against Cham and that could earn him a starting slot. He is 3/1 with Paddy Power to net.
Anything else catch the eye?
Hearts will be expected to throw everything at Zurich, but they may just have caught the Swiss at the wrong time and could end up missing out by drawing here.
Zurich looked far more like the Swiss champions of last season in the first leg and Hearts struggled to cope with them. While a terrific atmosphere will roar Hearts on, they may just fall short here.
Don's be surprised if there are goals here too. Both defences looked vulnerable last week. Try over 3.5 goals at 29/10 with BetVictor.
The first leg saw Zurich win the corner count by 7-0, but that's unusual for Hearts who did something almost unheard of in Scotland in their last game – not only did they earn two more corners than Celtic, but the game was at Parkhead too. So over 10.5 corners at odds-against – 11/10 with bet365 should come up if the game is an attacking one.
This UEFA Europa League match between Hearts and FC Zurich will be played on Aug 25, 2022 and kick off at 20:00. Check below for our tipsters best Hearts vs FC Zurich prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
