MANAGERLESS Hearts start life after Steven Naismith with a home game against Ross County on Saturday.
Naismith finally paid the price for a truly horrendous start to the season where they collected just a solitary point in the Premiership – against Rangers on the opening day of the season – and have now lost their last eight games.
The final straw came in Paisley last week when St Mirren inflicted another defeat on the Jambos and despite Naismith only recently signing a new deal, he was fired.
Liam Fox will be in caretaker charge and they will reportedly heavily lean on the analytics provided by current Brighton chairman Tony Bloom – who is poised to make a £10 million investment in the club – to decide on their new manager.
They face a Ross County side who have picked up recently after going through a brought patch where they were eliminated from the Premier Sports Cup by Spartans and conceded six goals to Rangers at Hampden.
They beat an in-form Dundee side and then mounted an impressive comeback where they scored twice inside the last three minutes to claim a draw against St Johnstone last week.
How the bookies view it: Hearts still heavy favourites.
The bookies clearly think Hearts will get a new manager bounce and make the Jambos odds-on favourites across the board at 8/11 with Ladbrokes the current best price.
Ross County are 4/1 to get the three points with Paddy Power and the draw is 11/4 with Ladbrokes.
Recent head to heads: Well-matched teams
Last season, there was a win apiece and a draw in the three meetings. County haven't won on their last seven visits to Tynecastle.
Players to watch: Hale and Hearty
A major part of Hearts' problems this season has been captain Lawrence Shankland's goal drought. He has yet to score at all so far this season and is 31/20 to change that with UniBet.
Ronan Hale netted his fifth goal of the season at the weekend against St Johnstone and now has five goals for County. He is 7/2 to score anytime with bet365, which looks a bit of value.
Predicted line-ups:
Hearts defender Frankie Kent is a doubt with an ankle problem, and Calem Nieuwenhof is still out but Yutaro Oda, Liam Boyce and Barrie McKay are set to come back into contention.
Ross County have doubts over George Harmon and Josh Reid and Ricki Lamie remains out.
Hearts: Gordon, Taylor, Halkett, Kingsley, Penrice, Baningime, Boateng, Grant, McKay, Shankland, Vargas.
Ross County: Laidlaw, Brown, Leak, Wright, Randall, Hale, Chilvers, Campbell, Lopata, Nisbet, White.
Anything else catch the eye?
How often do we see the case where teams who have been horrendous suddenly kick into gear when the old manager is emptied?
However, there is absolutely nothing that would have you rushing to stick the mortgage on a scandalously underperforming Hearts side here who look far, far too short here.
A team that has lost eight games in a row should never be as short as they are. Perhaps they will suddenly lift and produce a stunning performance but there's zero evidence to suggest it and the call is a double chance of a County win or the draw at 6/5 with Boylesports
County are capable of scoring and given they shared six goals last week, both teams to score and over 2.5 goals at 7/5 with bet365 is to be advised too.
This Scottish Premiership match between Hearts and Ross County will be played on Sep 28, 2024 and kick off at 15:00. Check below for our tipsters best Hearts vs Ross County prediction. You may also visit our dedicated betting previews section for the most up to date previews.
