Claudio Braga's solitary goal moved dominant Hearts seven points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership as Aberdeen keeled closer to a bottom-six finish.

Pierre Landry Kabore, who had missed a good chance with a lob, set up Braga for a composed finish as the home side converted their first-half superiority into a lead.

Tomas Magnusson had headed wide for the hosts and Blair Spittal, Kabore and Braga came close to adding to their lead.

Victory for Derek McInnes' side puts pressure on nearest challengers Rangers and Celtic, who meet on Sunday.

And Aberdeen, who were playing with former manager Sir Alex Ferguson watching on, continue their record of not having scored away from home in 2026.

Dons forward Toyosi Olusanya twice turned wide from Topi Keskinen crosses before the Braga opener and Kevin Nisbet volleyed wide of the Hearts goal in the second period.

A change of shape to three at the back and Stuart Armstrong's introduction from the bench in the second half made Aberdeen more competitive but still blunt in attack.

Penalty claims for a foul and handball by Armstrong and Nisbet in the closing stages yielded nothing from the officials as the visitors were left to rue another one of those days.

They are eighth, a point off Dundee United and 13 points behind sixth-placed Falkirk. United and Aberdeen have five games to play before the league splits, the Bairns have four.

When Hearts opened their Premiership campaign with a home win over Aberdeen it not only set the tone for the season, it gave an indication of the divergent trajectories both clubs were on.

McInnes' side have rarely looked back and have nine games left to hold their nerve and attempt to win Hearts' first top-flight title since 1960.

Regardless of how Sunday's Rangers v Celtic match ends, Hearts know they have it in their gift to win the league so long as they keep picking up victories.

Beating Aberdeen also means Hearts stand to gain on one or both of Sunday's teams for this round of fixtures.

In contrast, last season's Scottish Cup winners Aberdeen have never really got going in the league.

Should their woeful scoring record on the road continue it may end their cup ambitions, which seems their only saving grace for the season. They are on the road in the quarter-finals, against Dunfermline Athletic next weekend.

Hearts manager Derek McInnes: "The performance, when you look at the stats and how it felt in there, as if it was more than a 1-0 but we only get the one goal and that's the only thing we're really disappointed with.

"We needed Tynecastle to be like that. We needed to play forward, we needed to pass forward. We needed to try and put Aberdeen under stress. I thought we did that. We scored a really good goal.

"In the main, we defended really well. As a team, we were thoroughly deserving of the three points."

Aberdeen interim manager Peter Leven: "We lacked a wee bit of quality in the final third. Too many shots getting blocked, never caused them enough problems. Second half a bit better but nowhere near good enough.

"The Stuart Armstrong one for me, we got a player sent off last week - Liam Morrison - when the Dundee player cut in front of him and went down. That was the same scenario here. You can clearly see his knee coming into Stuart at the side. For me, it's a penalty all day.

"Kevin was adamant that his arm came round the side. Obviously, they checked it. They said it was outside the box."

Hearts have a two-week break until their Premiership trip to face Kilmarnock on 14 March (20:00 GMT).

Aberdeen play their league game in hand at home to Celtic on Wednesday (20:00).