Scottish Premiership picks: Focus on Hearts, Congreve and Askou

Hearts continues the story of the English Premier League season after expanding its lead at the top to nine points last Saturday.

That was partly down to Celtic’s closest rivals spending the weekend away from league football as Martin O’Neill’s men booked their place in the Premier League Cup Final with victory over 10-man Rangers.

But Derek McInnes’ league leaders still have a job to do and they did so with compassion after a four-goal win over Dundee, whose city rivals travel to Tynecastle on Sunday (15:00 GMT).

With Celtic kicking off at home to Kilmarnock at 16:00, Hearts will be 12 points ahead for at least an hour if they beat Dundee United, although O’Neill’s side will have two games in hand, including Sunday’s match.

McInnes says Hearts have achieved their first “little goal” by topping the table after the first round of matches, and are there “deservedly” without “drawing conclusions” too much.

To pile pressure on Celtic, McInnes’ men will have to beat a club that won both visits to Hearts in the league last season, but Jim Goodwin’s side have managed just one win in their last seven away league games.

An interesting Tynecastle encounter awaits us.