Hearts explain points plan for weeks ahead - plus latest on Peter Haring, Nathaniel Atkinson and Andy Halliday injuries

Hearts must stay in touch with their main Premiership rivals in order to overtake them after the World Cup break.

That is manager Robbie Neilson’s plan, which he explained following Sunday’s 2-0 defeat at Aberdeen. The Edinburgh club slipped to seventh in the league but could go joint-third alongside Hibs if they win their game in hand over their city neighbours.

Further injuries make the task more difficult as Hearts try to navigate Europa Conference League group games as well as domestic matches. Andy Halliday took a heavy challenge on his Achilles and Peter Haring was stretchered off with concussion during the match at Pittodrie. They join an injury list also including Beni Baningime, Kye Rowles, Liam Boyce, Josh Ginnelly, Michael Smith and Nathaniel Atkinson.

Neilson said other squad members must now step up. “It gets guys game time and an opportunity. They’ve got to grasp that,” he said. “This happens in football where you go through these periods. We’ve had a lot of games recently. We travelled to Florence, Riga, and we go to Istanbul soon.

“We were up against a very good Aberdeen team who had a full week’s preparation but they are sitting a point ahead of us. We just need to make sure that, when we get to that World Cup break, we are in a good position in the league. Then we can kick on once we get Saturday-to-Saturday games and a few of our big hitters back as well.”

Celtic visit Tynecastle this Saturday and Neilson admitted times are hard at the moment.

“We are going through a difficult period. We have 11 first-team starters out injured because of the culmination of games. We just need to dig it out and get through it. If we get to the World Cup break in a position where we can kick on, it will be massive for us. It would allow us to hopefully get into the same position as last year, finishing third, getting European football and giving the players the experience of that in back-to-back seasons. That’s the objective.

“We aim to win every game but we also need to be realistic and say: ‘Where are we at the moment?’ Right now we have a number of players injured but huge games coming up – RFS, Istanbul away, Celtic, and then it settles down and we can really start to kick on.”

Hearts players emerge at Pittodrie.

With no Premier Sports Cup tie to play in midweek, Hearts have a few days to rest and recover before another hectic few weeks. “We’d love to be in that but the league is our bread and butter,” said Neilson. “We can use this week to get some recovery into the players and, potentially, to get one or two back for next week, depending how they are.

“I don’t want to put names on it in case they don’t get back. We just need to wait and see. We will see how Andy is. We have another few guys who aren’t that far away.”

Atkinson is to have his injured ankle scanned on Monday. “Yes. We will wait and see how it comes back,” confirmed Neilson.