Two Hearts players back to face Celtic - plus an update on Craig Halkett and Craig Gordon

Tynecastle is preparing to host an intense Premiership encounter on Sunday

Ahead of Sunday's Premiership meeting with Celtic at Tynecastle Park, Hearts have welcomed defender Alex Cochrane and winger Yutaro Oda back into full training after injury. Both players are in contention to play against the league leaders as head coach Steven Naismith weighs up his options.

Cochrane has not played for six weeks after damaging an ankle whilst training at Riccarton during September's international break. However, he might feature against Celtic with fellow left-back Stephen Kingsley injured following the Edinburgh derby draw with Hibs.

Oda has not been seen since Hearts' 2-0 victory over Aberdeen on 16 September. He sustained a hamstring injury in the first half of that match but is now fit again and ready to challenge for a place in Naismith's team.

"Alex and Yutaro are back in the group so they are both available for this weekend. They have trained during the international break and they are back in contention," Naismith confirmed to the Evening News. He is still awaiting the return of goalkeeper Craig Gordon and centre-back Craig Halkett, both of whom could be back next month.

Gordon and Halkett have both been sidelined since last December with a double leg-break and ruptured anterior cruciate ligament respectively. They are seen as key players who could play important roles for Hearts during the second half of the campaign.

"Craig Halkett has started to get involved in team training but is still a wee bit away, so there isn't really a timescale on him," explained Naismith. "Him and Craig Gordon will both need a period of training and bounce games and build it up from there. There isn't going to be a specific time to say they will be back in contention at any point. The next month will be about them training.

"Craig Gordon played in the [closed-doors] friendly game against Spartans last week, but he will need another three or four games. We will build the minutes up because we will be arranging bounce games for early parts of the week for the guys who are coming back from injury - as well as a few others who need minutes."