The Capital clubs meet at Easter Road tonight

Hearts defender Christian Borchgrevink is an injury doubt ahead of tonight’s Edinburgh derby against Hibs. He is rated 50/50 to take part at Easter Road because of a minor niggle which caused him to miss training at Riccarton on Tuesday. Head coach Wouter Vrancken intends to make a late decision on the Norwegian.

A positive for Vrancken is that Jamie McCart is back in full training and is available to play after missing Saturday’s Premiership win over St Johnstone. Speaking exclusively to the Edinburgh News, Vrancken reported that McCart is in contention for a place in Hearts’ starting line-up this evening.

“He trained the last two days. He trained fully with the group and he didn't seem to give any reaction after the pain he had. I think there is no problem with him,” confirmed the Belgian, who is pleased with McCart’s solid displays after the player endured a difficult start to the campaign.

“It's good to see because I think he had the qualities to add something on the group,” added Vrancken. “At the beginning, you saw that he was maybe too scared to show himself, to take some risks. But he can play football. He can do the things we ask him to do. What we pointed out, he got to work with it and with the things we said. You see him improving every game since then and it's good to see it, because there's also some insights for other players. They have also the possibility to improve their game and to step up and to fight for their positions.”

Vrancken said Borchgrevink is touch-and-go after filling in at left-back against St Johnstone and in last week’s Conference League play-off success against Rapid Vienna. “It depends because he had some little things. Because he was injured before, we don't want to take too many risks with him. So depending on what he's going to say or what he feels today, we'll see what we can do with him.”

New signing JJ Williams is awaiting a debut after spending Saturday afternoon as an unused substitute. However, after scoring three goals in his last four appearances, the Hearts management have no concerns asking teenager James Wilson to lead their attack at Easter Road. “When we think he can play, he can play,” said Vrancken. “JJ is coming back with extra sessions. He is adapting to what we want to see. I’m not looking at it like this with concerns. Whether he is 18 or 32, it doesn't matter. When you're ready, you're ready.”

Hearts arrive at Easter Road unbeaten in six games since losing their first four competitive games of the season - three of them in European competition against Sturm Graz and Benfica. “I was already positive from the start, even though we had a short preparation,” explained Vrancken. “When you see Sturm Graz fourth in the league in Austria and Rapid Vienna doing well, I think if we had a little bit more preparation and were more physically prepared, then we could be competitive from the first game. So it's a pity that we couldn't do it.

“Then you see also the progress the players have made. There is quality on the ball, but also in physicality and stuff like this, so that we can beat those teams that are maybe ranked above us or we are in the underdog. We can be competitive in those games and also go through to the league phase.

“That was a nice feeling and it's a good run of games. When you start and you feel positive about what they're doing and the results are not there like you wanted, yeah, it's a little bit of a negativity. When you have the results, it gives an extra push and belief and conviction that you're on the right way. For the players in the head, for the confidence, it's very important. It's nice that we have this run of games, but we want to extend this run of games. So we're going to do everything to do it tonight.”