St Johnstone travel to Tynecastle for Saturday’s early SPL kick-off and manager Derek McInnes hopes his opponents assume they will win. The newly-promoted side could leapfrog Hearts in the table with a win and McInnes thinks being seen as underdogs could motivate his side.
“They will see the game as three points, like everyone else when they play us," the manager told PA Sport.
"We will use that as motivation, we have to got to use any motivation that we can because it can be down to small percentages.
"But we have shown so far that we are capable and we have to keep showing that.
The sides drew 2-2 in a cracking match at McDiarmid Park earlier in the season and McInnes was expecting another tough test.
"Hearts finished in the top three last season and I fully expect them to finish in the top six this season,” he said.
"Tynecastle is a good place to play football and there is always a good atmosphere there so we are looking forward to it."
Hearts David Obua was targeting what would only be Hearts’ third league win of the season and he was quick to put his finger on the reason for their less than impressive start.
“For us, the strikers, we haven't been scoring goals. That's the problem," he said.
"If you don't score, you're bound to concede. If we can correct that, I think we'll do much better in the coming games.
"We've had the chances. We've worked on finishing on numerous occasions on the training ground but the ball is just not going into the net.
While the Ugandan hoped the attack would click against St Johnstone, he knew the pressure was on his side.
"They are a good side," he said.
"But, of course, we are at home. We need to go out there to win this game."
Hearts provisional squad: Balogh, Kucharski, Jonsson, Bouzid, Goncalves, Palazuelos, Obua, Black, Witteveen, Nade, Wallace, C Thomson, J Thomson, Novikovas, Elliot, J Stewart, Glen, Kello.
St Johnstone provisional squad: Smith, MacKay, Grainger, Morris, Rutkiewicz, Gartland, Anderson, Millar, Davidson, Craig, Samuel, Morais, Johansson, Deuchar, Main, Durnan, Reynolds, Kelly, Sheerin, Swankie.
