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Lawrence Shankland (left) has reclaimed his position as the Scottish Premiership’s leading scorer this season.
Watch Hearts v Dundee highlights
01/11/25
With four additional goals, three more points secured, and a nine-point lead at the top of the Scottish Premiership, perhaps Hearts chief executive Andrew McKinlay’s confident assertion that “we will win the league” before Dundee’s visit wasn’t so far-fetched.
While he did clarify that this ambition might be realized in the future rather than this season, each game strengthens the Tynecastle side’s argument for disrupting the Old Firm’s traditional title dominance.
Head coach Derek McInnes offered a more tempered perspective, noting that concluding a quarter of the league season in such a strong position served as “a good reference point.”
Hearts were fortunate to secure a point in Paisley on Wednesday, a result that allowed Celtic to close the gap to six points.
However, his team capitalized on the reigning champions’ League Cup commitment this weekend by extending their lead with a decisive 4-0 victory over Dundee.
McInnes acknowledged, “We said the point at St Mirren would be a brilliant and important point if we won today – and that’s the way it has been.”
“A few weeks ago, we set a challenge to players: ‘Can we be above Celtic before we play them?’ And then, ‘Can we be top of the league after the first round of fixtures?'”
“We’ve ticked off that little section now, and we need to push on again for the start of the next round.”
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Hearts’ statistics across those initial 11 games are notably impressive.
With 29 points, McInnes’ squad is just one win shy of matching the tally achieved after 12 games under George Burley at the outset of the 2005-06 campaign – and this time, they are not encumbered by a potentially volatile owner poised to dismiss the manager.
Hearts are currently undefeated in their last 15 Premiership matches – their longest unbeaten run in over a decade – and stand as the division’s only unbeaten team.
They have scored at least once in each of those 15 games, marking another decade-best run, and no opponent has managed to keep them off the scoresheet.
In Lawrence Shankland, they possess a rejuvenated striker. The Scotland international’s opening goal against Dundee – his third in as many games – propelled him to the top of the Premiership scoring charts with seven goals. His overall tally of 10 has already surpassed his previous season’s total.
Defensively, they have amassed six league clean sheets – matching the highest number among all teams – with Dundee failing to register a single attempt on target for the first time since their encounter with Hearts in December.
Hearts also completed 610 passes on Saturday, representing their highest total in a league game this term, with midfielder Cammy Devlin attempting 109 – the highest individual total within the team this season.
While everything suggests progress in the right direction, McInnes insists that the squad is “getting stronger,” adding, “we feel there is a bit more in us.”
“We’ve got good wide players, we’ve got midfielders who control the game, and the bedrock for a lot of our results has been the clean sheets,” he added.
“Trying to get that balance is not always easy, but we seem to be finding it.”
McInnes conceded that “we took a bit of a risk” by resting new fan-favorite forward Claudio Braga and in-form defenders Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley due to minor injury concerns.
However, the fact that Braga’s replacement, Pierre Landry Kabore, rewarded the manager’s faith with his first two Hearts goals further underscored the strength of a squad reinforced by their summer partnership with Tony Bloom and his Jamestown Analytics company.
Burkina Faso forward Kabore was scouted from Estonian club Narva Trans, and midfielder Tomas Bent Magnusson, who scored the fourth goal against Dundee, was recruited from Valur in Iceland.
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Tynecastle form important to Hearts – McInnes
It’s no surprise that McKinlay expressed such confidence when speaking to BBC 5 Live before kick-off.
“It’s dreamland, and we’re enjoying it,” stated the chief executive. “Scottish football often faces criticism for the dominance of two big teams, and in the last decade, perhaps just one team.”
“It’s fantastic for Scottish football, and it’s certainly brilliant for Hearts. At this time last year, we were at the bottom of the league, and now we’re at the top, so let’s make the most of it.”
Celtic possess a game in hand and have the experienced Martin O’Neill back in interim charge. Rangers, currently 14 points behind in fourth place, will also be hoping for a resurgence under their new head coach, Danny Rohl.
However, McKinlay draws encouragement from Bloom’s influence at Brighton and Union Saint-Gilloise in Belgium.
“We’re confident that we’re not just here for a brief moment, and we can sustain this,” he added. “Tony has instilled a great deal of belief, especially when we consider how successful analytics have been at other clubs.”
“We genuinely believe that we have a significant opportunity. Now, I’m not saying we’re going to win the league this year, but if we don’t, this isn’t our only chance.”
“We’ve got something truly special happening here, and we believe we’ll continue to improve as the seasons progress.”
“USG were nearly relegated from the second tier, and within seven years, they won the [Belgian] league and are now competing in the Champions League. We’re confident that at some point, we will have Champions League music playing here.”
“We will win the league, but whether it’s this season or not, I don’t know.”
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