'Even bigger divide' - Former Aberdeen man in bold Hearts prediction

Liam Fox. Liam Fox.
Liam Fox. | SNS Group
Hearts are back in Scottish Premiership action this weekend

Ex-Aberdeen player Steve Tosh doesn’t believe Hearts can finish above his former club if they lose to them this weekend. The Jambos head to Pittodrie on Sunday afternoon in poor form.

The Dons, on the other hand, have made a dream start to the new Scottish Premiership season and are joint-top of the table with Celtic. They have won all six of their opening fixtures and have 18 points on the board, five more than 3rd place Rangers.

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Meanwhile, Hearts haven’t won a match yet. They are in the hunt for a new manager to replace Steven Naismith with Liam Fox in caretaker.

Tosh has delivered his verdict ahead of the upcoming match, as per The Press and Journal: “What a fantastic opportunity we have got to go and beat Hearts and create an even bigger divide between the team we expected to be our main competitors for third. The bottom line is, and I’ll stick my neck on the chopping block here, if we beat them on Sunday they cannot finish above Aberdeen this season.

“I say that because I don’t believe Aberdeen will lose seven more games than Hearts between now and the end of the season. If someone said you’d be 19 points ahead of Hearts in the first week of October, you would have scoffed – but that’s where we could be this weekend.”

He added: “I was dubious when Jimmy Thelin was appointed (at Aberdeen) so there is no point in me trying to be the messiah and say this boy was going to be a good manager. I didn’t buy into the whole idea he was the best manager since Sir Alex Ferguson purely because I didn’t know this person. It was all about seeing how the team reacted to a new manager coming in with a new style.

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“I still think we’ve got to get knocked over before we get a better understanding of what Jimmy has brought to the club. That’s not me being pessimistic, but there would have been a lot of negativity if we had faced Rangers, Celtic and Hearts in our first three games and not won any of them.

“Having said that let’s get excited about what’s happening and enjoy the ride. Go into the Hearts game on Sunday full of confidence, knowing if we play to our capabilities, we can pick up another three points – but also realise there will be bumps on the road at some point.”

Hearts need to get their managerial appointment right as they carefully weigh up their options. It just hasn’t clicked for them yet and they need to start picking up some more points sooner rather than later.

They finished 3rd in the last campaign behind Celtic and Rangers under Naismith. They are bottom right now and are in for a tough test against an Aberdeen outfit who are full of confidence right now under Jimmy Thelin.

The Dons won 2-1 away at Dundee last time out. Kevin Nisbet and Topi Keskinen got their goals.

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