Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley injury latest as Hearts head to Livingston unable to prioritise Europe

Hearts cannot afford to rest anyone at Livingston on Saturday despite the importance of next week’s European tie against Istanbul Basaksehir.

Manager Robbie Neilson told the Evening News that he is not in a position to leave players out to keep them fresh for the Europa Conference League’s opening group match. Injuries to key men like Liam Boyce, Kye Rowles, Beni Baningime, Nathaniel Atkinson, Jorge Grant, Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley have stretched his squad lately.

Halkett and Kingsley had hamstring problems but both should be available for the short Premiership trip to West Lothian. New forward Stephen Humphrys could feature but midfielder Orestis Kiomourtzoglou was still awaiting a UK visa as of Friday morning. Neilson will prioritise three points there before thinking about Basaksehir.

“They will both be back. It’s whether they are ready to start, that will be the question,” he said. “The two of them are training so we will then make an assessment after Friday’s session to see where they are.

“We can’t leave people out. We need to just get through Saturday and then get a few days’ recovery to get ready for a big one on Thursday night.”

Grant could also return after missing the last two games with a groin complaint. Neilson felt his absence was obvious during Wednesday evening’s Premier Sports Cup defeat by Kilmarnock.

“I think we missed him on Wednesday. We went side to side a lot and you need that penetration from midfield. He can give us that thrust,” said the manager.

“Wednesday was just a case of: ‘What have we got? Who is fit? Put them out.’ Hopefully by Saturday we have a few more back from injury to give us that opportunity to change things around.

Hearts defenders Craig Halkett and Stephen Kingsley are close to returning from injury.

“There has to be a critique to say it’s not good enough because we should be winning these games. The other side is that we are asking these guys to go again and again.”

Neilson added that Livingston’s astroturf surface may suit his team. “To be honest, we quite like it. I think it will suit a lot of our boys.

“Halkett is desperate to go having played there, Alan Forrest is desperate to go back. A couple of the other boys quite like playing on the astro. It can be difficult on certain days but sometimes you can zip the ball about.”