Tynecastle officials expect the Costa Rica defender to miss a number of weeks

Hearts confirmed a medial cruciate ligament injury for defender Gerald Taylor ahead of Saturday’s Premiership visit to Celtic. The Costa Rican suffered the problem when a player fell on him whilst playing in his country’s CONCACAF Gold Cup tie against Belize earlier this week.

Having missed four months with a different knee injury earlier in the campaign, Taylor is now expected to miss a number of weeks. He faces a race against time to play again this season with his loan from Deportivo Saprissa expiring in May.

“Unfortunately, Gerald got injured on international duty with his knee,” said Neil Critchley, the Hearts head coach. “He arrived back yesterday. We've assessed him today. It looks like he'll be out for a few weeks. So, that's some unfortunate news for him and for us. Someone fell on him. It's like MCL on the inside of his knee, so it's not the same injury as before.”

Critchley will welcome back Cammy Devlin for Saturday’s match and Jamie McCart is rated 50/50. “Some players are getting closer because they've trained this week,” added the manager. “So, it was nice to have Frankie Kent, Stephen Kingsley and Craig Halkett back on the pitch at the same time. Their presence on the pitch was welcomed as they're experienced players. Jamie McCart has trained the last couple of days. I think that's it. Aidan Denholm is still out. So, a little bit mixed, if you like. Gerald missing, but the others are stepping up their training. I've trained this week, which has been really positive.”

Scottish Premiership split nears as Celtic, Dundee United and Motherwell lie in wait for Hearts

Hearts have sold out their initial 19,000 ticket allocation for next month’s Scottish Cup semi-final against Aberdeen. The club have now obtained an extra 1,000 seats in the South Stand Upper section at Hampden Park, which are now available on general sale. That game is not at the forefront of Critchley’s mind for now as he focuses on Celtic, Dundee United and Motherwell before the Premiership split.

“Yes, they're vitally important games. I think the break has just given everyone a chance to breathe a little bit. We want to think there's only seven, eight weeks, something like that, left. It'll fly by and we're ready to attack the last period of the season. Nine, hopefully ten games left, maximum. That's it. So, we're ready to go. We're fresh, we're positive and we're looking forward to a really exciting end to the season.

“We expect a really tough game at Celtic. It's the toughest game you can face, obviously. I think that was their first home defeat this season [against Rangers two weeks ago]. They're the best team in the league, obviously, because you look at their record and the points that they've taken and how many points they've cleared. They're an outstanding team, but we just have to go with who we are, stick to our principles, attack the game as best as we can in the manner in which we want to and see if we can cause Celtic in the moments that we can create some problems. It's a great challenge and I'm really looking forward to it.

“Our principles of how we want to play won't change. We understand that it would be foolish of us to think that we're going to go there and dominate the ball. I think they average something like 70 per cent possession in their games this season at home. In the moments that we want to try and play, we've got to be brave enough to play our football and we've got to try and carry a threat. We want to try and be aggressive without the ball.

“You need a top performance from everyone. You need everyone to step up to the challenge. You need everyone to perform, whether that's starting or coming off the bench. You need to go with the right mentality. You know it's going to be tough. You know at times in the game you're going to have to suffer. You have to be good at suffering. But you have to believe in what you're doing. The mentality is really crucial. You need to be clinical when you create the moments that hopefully you can create by how you play the game. You see Rangers and how they approach the game and the success that they got from that. You're hopeful of something similar, even if you're maybe going to do it in a slightly different way.”

Rangers win at Celtic Park proved Brendan Rodgers’ team are not invincible at home

Asked if Rangers exposed some weaknesses in the Celtic side, Critchley smiled. “Weaknesses? Well, yeah, every team has a weakness, but they're by far the best team,” he replied. “That was their first home defeat all season. They're an outstanding team. They're top players, really well-coached, the manager is incredible in what he's done and what he's achieved. But it's why you're in football.

“I'd never been to a Celtic park before. I know lots of the players have. I went to the Old Firm game. It was a brilliant experience. What a great stadium. It's where you want to go. You want to test yourself against the best, knowing you're going to have to be at your best. We need everyone to step up to the challenge. But when you pull on the maroon jersey, when you play for hearts, there's some non-negotiables. We have to go and compete, fight and be brave in how we want to play the game.”

Hearts dragged themselves out of the Premiership’s relegation zone during January and are now challenging for a European place in the top six. Critchley feels they are now better equipped to cope with the challenge of facing Celtic in Glasgow. “Yeah, I think so. I think just through the natural progression of the group being together for a longer period of time, the work we did in January, the group have grown,” he stressed.

“We've shown the ability to come back from behind and win games. We've shown the ability when teams have maybe pegged us back to respond. That's the resilience that we're going to need. We're going to need that belief in ourselves. You can never lose out on the mentality of how you approach the game and we know we're going to have to be perfect tomorrow in that. But you're right, our belief has grown. We go there in a positive frame of mind.

“I've looked at the league for one of the first times ever. I looked at it for about two minutes and then decided not to look at it because there are numerous permutations [for the top six] and I give up trying to work them all out, so I thought that's pointless. We just have to concentrate on us. We have three games and who knows how many points we're going to need. We have a tough run of games but so do a lot of the other teams around us. We obviously have teams around us that we're due to play. So, we go one game at a time. The old cliche, but it's true. You can't take your eye off the ball and we're looking forward to a great game of football tomorrow.”