Hearts v Hibs
Football : Scottish Premier League
Sunday 28/08/2011 - Kickoff 15.45 (local)

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The Edinburgh Derby is a fierce rivalry that dates back to the clubs being founded in the mid-1870s, which makes it one of the oldest (and longest running) rivalries in world football. The first match between the clubs was played on the cities Meadows on Christmas Day 1875.

Hearts

Hearts managed to restore a bit of pride down at White Hearts Lane on Thursday night albeit the game did have a kind of reserve fixture about it, but new Hearts manager Paulo Sergio will have noticed a few good performances from a couple of players that are pushing for starts in the first team. Two stand outs were Australian right back Ryan McGowan and young striker Gordon Smith. Nevertheless with that tie over in the first leg the opportunity was taken to rest up the majority of first team players ahead of the all important derby match.

Hearts have the luxury of being able to pick from a full squad and now have genuine competition for positions all over the park. I think the key for Hearts will be to keep Gary O'Conner quiet as I certainly think Hearts will be able to cause the shaky Hibs defence all sorts of problems.

This game usually is a bit of a battle in midfield and discipline will be key, so I am a little nervous about Ian Black for Hearts who can charge about like a bull a bit.

Possible Hearts lineup :
Kello, McGowan, Webster, Zaliukas, Grainger, Templeton, Black, Skacel, Driver, Obua, Sutton (4-4-1-1)

Hibs

It's fair to say that Hibs have not had the most encouraging start to the season with 3 defeats and one win from a last minute goal at Inverness leaving them sitting 2nd bottom at the moment. I think a lot of the problems have come from the pre season uncertainty shown from their manager Colin Calderwood in actually wanting to be at the club.

However, they have made a number of loan signing and I think that once Calderwood works out what his best team is they will undoubtedly start to climb back up the league. Just this week they have added striker Leigh Griffiths from Wolves and full back Richie Towell from Celtic both on loan.

I do believe Hibs have a few really dangerous players especially in Gary O'Conner who is bang on form at the moment and the speedy winger Ivan Sproule. These two were both on the score sheet midweek in a satisfying 5-0 home win against Berwick rangers in the cup.

There are no new injury worries for Hibs but it's a little hard to predict the starting XI as they may chose to throw in their new signing however this would seem unlikely in such a big match.

Possible Hibs lineup :
Stack, Palsson, Stephens, Hanlon, Booth, Sproule, Osbourne, Murray, Wotherspoon, O'Conner, Sodje (4-4-2)

THE BETTING VERDICT

Comentators love to say, "form goes out the window" in these matches but, really does it? Hearts have definately had the edge in these fixtures in recent times, you have to back 8 games to May 2009 for the last Hibs win.

The derby does tend to be a bit of a scrappy affair with not much actual football getting played so for people who like to bet on under 2.5 goals this may well be a good option.

Hibs are available at a massive 4/1. I must admit I can't really remember them being at such a price for a derby match in a long time but I really do think that this is a reflection on where they are at just now.

I will rather just take Hearts to win the match as I think Hearts currently have a better team than Hibs who seem to have a weak defence that are not really gelling well together. It's probably a good time to play Hibs before they get themselves sorted out.

I have a lot of Hibee pals and have been baiting them all week and its fair to say they are not really looking forward to this one!

The Pick :

Hearts 2-0 Hibs

PERCENTAGE ESTIMATE :

Hearts 50% - Draw 30% - Hibs 20%

FIXED ODDS BETTING :

Main Bet:
I'll take Hearts to Win at 1.83 (Ladbrokes)