Hearts team for Aberdeen confirmed and why Alex Cochrane isn’t playing

Stephen Kingsley named in squad to face Aberdeen

Steven Naismith has announced the squad that will face Aberdeen shortly with Alex Cochrane missing out through an injury.

The Hearts defender sustained a blow to the ankle during a training session and is now set for about six weeks on the sidelines according to the Jambos boss with Stephen Kingsley coming back into the squad as his replacement in defence.

Hearts have struggled for points in their first block of the 2023/24 season, most recently losing to Motherwell 1-0 at home. However, Naismith is confident that the recent international break has served the team well and they are now refuelled ready for the next domestic block of fixtures.

Aberdeen have failed to win in their last nine league appearances at Tynecastle, with the Jambos most recently beating them 2-1 but with several new faces in the squad, Naismith is under no misconceptions about what his squad must to do secure the vital three points.

Here is the squad set to face the visiting Dons...

Squad to face Aberdeen:

• 20. Zander Clark
• 2. Frankie Kent
• 3. Stephen Kingsley
• 5. Peter Haring
• 9. Lawrence Shankland
• 10. Liam Boyce
• 11. Yutaro Oda
• 13. Nathanial Atkinson
• 14. Cammy Devlin
• 15. Kye Rowles
• 77. Kenny Vargas

Substitutes:

Michael McGovern, Beni Baningime, Jorge Grant, Calem Nieuwenhof, Alan Forrest, Toby Sibbick, Aidan Denholm, McCauley Tait, Alex Lowry