Hearts host Aberdeen on Monday night in both sides' first match of the Scottish Premiership season. Hearts, now under the stewardship of Premiership veteran Derek McInnes, have continued their perfect form from the end of last season by scoring 4 in all 4 of their Scottish League Cup group matches. In preparation for a higher level of opponent, the Gorgie side hosted Premiership new boys Sunderland, dismantling the Black Cats 3-0 in a dominant showing in their final friendly match before the new season.

With Aberdeen guaranteed group stage European football this season, they received a bye past the group stage in the League Cup and will be playing their first competitive fixture of the season at Tynecastle. Aberdeen fans have voiced concerns that they may not be as well prepared as their division rivals without the League Cup fixtures, relatively high squad turnover and poor results in their recent friendlies. Aberdeen beat local side Cove Rangers 2-0 in their first friendly back before the Dons lost 4-1 to Fulham in London. Jimmy Thelin's side finished pre-season going down 3-1 to Ipswich at home in a friendly match last week.

The last visit to Tynecastle saw Aberdeen gain a point in December, and this ended a home-team stranglehold in this fixture that had seen Hearts win all 6 of the previous matches going back to March '22. With Hearts now under the tutelage of Brighton and former-RUSG owner Tony Bloom, they will be looking to become the third force in Scottish Football and end the Old Firm stranglehold, something Bloom explicitly promised to do in a fans' Q+A at the weekend.

Hearts have had an impressive-looking transfer window, with the arrivals of Claudio Braga and Kyziridis Alexandros in particular looking like very shrewd acquisitions. Hearts managed to keep frontman Elton Kabangu on a permanent deal and have shored up defensive positions with Oisin McEntee, Christian Borchgrevink and one of McInnes's former charges in strong CB Stuart Findlay. Hearts lost strong LB Penrice to AEK Athens for around £2m, which has funded a number of the aforementioned signings. The business that may well be the best of the summer however may be the retention of talismanic striker Lawrence Shankland, who has signed back on to try to propel Hearts back up the table.

Aberdeen have added well in the middle of the pitch by adding Adil Aouchiche, once a very promising young French advanced midfielder. They signed three Australians too, in the form of striker Kusini Yengi, impressive-looking winger Nicolas Milanovic and back-up keeper Suman. Dorrington has returned on loan from Spurs, while young midfielder Kjartansson has arrived from the Icelandic top flight. Aberdeen have however lost a great deal of quality from their squad, as Jamie McGrath, Kevin Nisbet, Oday Dabbagh, James McGarry, Ross Doohan, Jack MacKenzie and Pape Gueye all left in the summer.

This turnover has left Aberdeen with quite a stodgy midfield setup, with all of Clarkson, Nilsen, Shinnie and Palaversa more suited to anchor-type midfield play. Aouchiche should provide a level of dynamism and creativity that has been sorely lacking from Thelin's side, but it feels like reinforcements are required to cover this role at all times. In a similar story up top, Aberdeen have lost Nisbet, Dabbagh and Gueye from their ST options — men who provided 26 G+A between them last season. Yengi looks to be a shrewd purchase, but Ester Sokler will have to improve on his 6 G+A across 47 matches for if Aberdeen will rely on just these two for this campaign. Third choice Peter Ambrose doesn't appear to be ready for this level of football.

In terms of availability, Aberdeen will be regretting the loss of Tobers to another injury, as the Latvia captain missed the tail end of last season due to persistent injury problems. This leaves Thelin with only Knoester, Dorrington and Molloy as his fit CBs, while Shinnie may have to drop back to LB with Gyamfi missing and Milne struggling in pre-season matches. Hearts CM man Nieuwenhof was forced off with an injury in the last match and is a doubt, while new man Borchgrevink has had trouble achieving full fitness throughout preseason. Outside of these issues, both sides should be able to name a full strength XI.

We anticipate that Hearts' excellent preparations throughout preseason and the League Cup will put them very far ahead of Aberdeen in terms of preparation, as the Dons have only played 3 friendlies up to now. Hearts have managed 4 competitive matches, albeit against lower league opposition, and have put each and every one of them to the sword. Backing the home advantage to continue in this fixture looks like a good play tonight in Scotland.