John McGlynn, the Falkirk manager:
It’s going to be tough, that’s for sure. Hearts are going to have everything to play for. They’ve got to do their business. We’re here to put on a show, to show everyone how good a team Falkirk are. We need to get a good start in the game. It’s imperative, from our point of view, that we defend well and get a good start in the game.
It can’t be nice to feel like you’re being hunted. At the start of March Hearts were eight points ahead of Celtic (who had a game in hand), at the start of April their lead was down to five, at the start of May to three, tonight it’s one. It must take effort to dispel the sense of inevitability that comes with a gap that insists on shrinking like that. Here’s Derek McInnes, who says that Cammy Devlin and Harry Milne won’t be able to play the full 90 minutes today but that he’d prefer to have them from the start than for them to be on the bench and him having to constantly wonder when to throw them on. Also:
Just concentrate on the game. We’ve just got to assume that three points is going to be really important and the focus is just trying to beat Falkirk. They’re a good team. Sometimes you play teams that don’t have a lot to play for but that isn’t the case here. It’s hard to ignore [the hype], we’ve got to try to enjoy and relish it. But there’s work to be done to get three points here and that’s what we’re concentrating on.
Jens Berthel Askou, the Motherwell manager, has a chat. He refuses to comment on “things that have nothing to do with what we’re here to do”, such as reports linking him with Toulouse. Meanwhile:
It’s great. I just told the players, I think we’re made for these events, to compete in them. We’re going to get one hell of a crowd here and that’s going to lift us even more, so we can’t wait. Fourth position [would be] a massive achievement for the club. We’re here to make our own dreams come true, that’s what we’re working on, and everyone else has to deal with their own.
The teams!
The team sheets have been handed in, and here are the night’s big names. Hearts are without Craig Halkett and Marc Leonard, both injured, but Cammy Devlin and Harry Milne are back. Celtic make one change, Stbastian Tounekti swapping in and Luke McCowan finding himself benched.
Hearts v Falkirk
Hearts: Schwolow, Steinwender, Kent, Findlay, Milne, Spittal, Devlin, Baningime, Kyziridis, Braga, Shankland. Subs: Fulton, Kingsley, McCart, Kabore, Borchgrevink, Forrest, Altena, Kerjota, Chesnokov.
Falkirk: Hogarth, Henderson, Donaldson, Allan, Hart, Spencer, Tait, Miller, Yeats, Broggio, Wilson. Subs: Sneddon, Graham, MacIver, Cartwright, Oliver, Ross, Parkinson, Brown, Bennett.
Referee: Nick Walsh.
Motherwell v Celtic
Motherwell: Ward, Sparrow, O’Donnell, Koutroumbis, Longelo, Fadinger, Watt, Slattery, Just, Said, Maswanhise. Subs: Connelly, Gordon, Nicholson, Priestman, Ross, Booth, Thomson, Hendry, Charles-Cook.
Celtic: Sinisalo, Johnston, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Engels, Nygren, Yang, Tounketi, Maeda. Subs: Doohan, McCowan, Iheanacho, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Saracchi, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Ralston.1
Referee: John Beaton.
Rangers v Hibernian
Rangers: Butland, Sterling, Djiga, Fernandez, Rommens, Barron, Diomande, Aasgaard, Moore, Chermiti, Antman. Subs: Kelly, McGuire, Aarons, Souttar, Meghoma, Chukwuani, Skov Olsen, Gassama, Miovski.
Hibernian: Sallinger, O’Hora, Hanley, Iredale, Passlack, Barlaser, Chaiwa, Obita, Campbell, Boyle, Elding. Subs: Smith, Megwa, Newell, C Cadden, N Cadden, Mulligan, Andrews, Bushiri, Scarlett, Suto.
Referee: Matthew MacDermid.
Eilidh Barbour, doing the presenting duties for Sky, declares that were are “on the brink of a historic night” as coverage begins. And I guess that’s mostly right. We’re on the brink of a night, for sure, and it’s a night that might be historic.
Hello world! Well, aren’t these extraordinary times? So gripping has the Scottish Premiership title race become, not even the Guardian can ignore it! And tonight it might even be decided: league leaders Hearts host Falkirk while Celtic, just one point behind with two to play and coming into the game on the back of five successive league wins, head to Motherwell. Victory for one and defeat to the other (so long as the one doing the winning is Hearts) and it will be over.
As you’re likely to know by now, if it isn’t settled tonight it’ll be decided when the top two face each other on Saturday. Rangers meanwhile host Hibernian tonight: Hibs, currently fifth, could still overtake Motherwell in fourth or be overtaken by Falkirk in sixth, but Rangers will come third whatever they do in their last two matches.
Here, for the record, are tonight’s three fixtures, all of them 8pm BST kick-offs:
Hearts v Falkirk
Motherwell v Celtic
Rangers v Hibernian
And here’s what Hearts manager Derek McInnes had to say ahead of a potentially career-defining night for him and his team:
I’ve just assumed Celtic are going to win their game, I’ve had it in my head that we’re going to the last game and I’m prepared for that. Listen, there’s no easy games for anybody, nothing’s straightforward. Motherwell are a more than capable team. They were fully committed against us and I’m sure that’ll be the same again against Celtic.
We have been trying to hold off a couple of heavyweights for a long time now. We’ve managed to see off Rangers and we’ve got to try and see off Celtic over the next two games. I think the facts show we’re coping brilliantly. We’ve already broken a club record in terms of points tally and we’ve got a Champions League qualifier already secured, but obviously we want to try and go one better now and win the league.
And finally, here’s Ewan Murray’s preview of the evening:
It is a sign of shifting attitudes that the fact Hearts could claim the Scottish Premiership title on Wednesday was somewhat lost in analysis of the weekend’s events. Given Celtic’s form such a scenario is an unlikely one, but that it exists at all is remarkable: a Hearts win at home to Falkirk, coupled with defeat for Celtic at Motherwell, means the Edinburgh club will become champions for the first time since 1960.
“It’s nice to be able to hear ‘Hearts could win the league at Tynecastle,’” says their manager, Derek McInnes. “I don’t know how many people have been able to say that in their lifetime. The likelihood is we are going to have to win two games or certainly pick up four points.” In a quirk of history, both of Hearts’ titles in the 20th century were secured at St Mirren’s former Love Street ground.
Much more here:
