Heart OF Midlothian vs Hibernian Prediction

Form going into the derby

Hearts have won nine of their last twenty matches in all competitions, with four draws and seven losses, scoring 35 and conceding 33. The sample includes some eye-catching results, like a 6-1 league win over Benfica and a 4-0 Champions League win over Sturm Graz, alongside a 0-3 League Cup exit at the hands of Stenhousemuir. In the Premiership itself they've been competitive without being dominant, drawing at Kilmarnock and beating Falkirk in their last two league outings before that.

Heart OF Midlothian: 20 completed matches; Hibernian: 20 completed matches.

Heart OF Midlothian

20 matches

Win

45% 9 / 20

Draw

20% 4 / 20

Loss

35% 7 / 20

Scored

35

Conceded

33

Difference

+2

Hibernian

20 matches

Win

45% 9 / 20

Draw

15% 3 / 20

Loss

40% 8 / 20

Scored

29

Conceded

23

Difference

+6

Hibernian have an almost identical overall record away from home: nine wins, three draws and eight losses from twenty matches, with 29 scored and 23 conceded. They've shown they can win at tricky venues, including a 3-1 away success at Hearts last month, but they also lost 0-3 to Ross County in the League Cup, a reminder they can be caught out in this competition.

Comparative Team Statistics: Heart OF Midlothian vs Hibernian

Derby history

The recent head-to-head picture leans towards Hearts. In the last five Edinburgh derbies, they've won four, including that 3-1 away success back in September. Before that stretch, though, the fixture had been much more even, with Hibernian picking up wins and draws regularly over a longer sample.

Recent derby form favours Hearts, but the longer record shows how quickly that can flip.

Players to watch

Lawrence Shankland remains Hearts' main threat, with 24 goals in 37 matches this season, comfortably the highest return on show here. Alexandros Kyziridis has chipped in too, with eight goals in just 14 appearances. Hibernian's main scoring threat, John McGrath, has eight goals from 32 matches, a steadier but less prolific rate, while Kyle Bowie has six from eighteen.

Heart OF Midlothian:

Best scorers:

L. Shankland - 24

A. Kyziridis - 8

B. Spittal - 6

Best assist providers:

B. Spittal - 7

Y. Dhanda - 6

L. Shankland - 4

Penalty cards:

C. Devlin x 1 x 5

F. Kent x 9

Hibernian:

Best scorers:

J. McGrath - 8

K. Bowie - 6

Best assist providers:

J. Hoilett - 7

J. Newell - 6

Penalty cards:

N. Cadden x 1 x 3

Creatively, Hearts' Ben Spittal and Yutaro Dhanda have both set up six or seven goals, giving them more varied sources of chances than Hibernian, where Jacob Hoilett's seven assists in just thirteen matches stand out as the headline number.

A cup tie with its own pattern

This is a League Cup meeting rather than a league fixture, and both sides have shown they can stumble in this competition already this season. Hearts lost 0-3 to Stenhousemuir, while Hibernian lost 0-3 to Ross County, so neither side's cup form has been flawless.

With a month still to go before kickoff, team news and fitness will shift the picture further. For now, the derby history and current form give Hearts a slight edge on paper, but Hibernian have shown recently, including that win over Hearts in September, that they can match them.