PREVIEW: Hearts look to kickstart their season against Aberdeen | OneFootball

Heart of Midlothian and Aberdeen will both kick off their Scottish Premiership campaigns this afternoon, as they go head-to-head at Pittodrie.

Both sides have already played competitive games this term, with Aberdeen advancing through the group stages of the Premier Sports Cup with emphatic wins against Brora Rangers, Queen’s Park, Queen of the South and Kelty Hearts. Meanwhile, Hearts suffered a crushing 6-0 aggregate defeat to Sturm Graz in their Champions League qualification tie, meaning they must now face SL Benfica in the third round of the Europa League qualifiers.

Many will remember Hearts taking their title challenge to the wire last season, before losing out to Celtic on the final day at Celtic Park. However, this is now a very different Jambos side, which has lost its manager, top scorer, and fan-favourite midfielder to Glasgow Rangers. A lot of Hearts’ success last term was built on a solid defensive foundation, which is something they haven’t shown yet this season, having conceded at least once in all of their friendlies and UCL qualifiers so far. Meanwhile, Aberdeen endured a poor campaign which saw them amass just 40 points last season and finish 9th in the process.

The sides met three times last season, with Hearts winning both of their home games against The Dons, whilst Aberdeen picked up a 1-0 win over the title challengers at Pittodrie in November. 70 matches have previously been played between the two, with the honours fairly even over the years. Hearts have won 28, whilst Aberdeen have won 23 and 19 have finished in a draw.

The Jam Tarts have a lengthy injury list coming into this one, which features key players such as Craig Halkett, Stephen Kingsley and Alexandros Kyziridis. By contrast, it looks as though Aberdeen will start the season with their full squad available for selection.

The game is due to kick off at 5:30pm BST and will be broadcast live on Sky Sports.