Even with Craig Gordon in the Hearts team, centre-back Craig Halkett is wearing the captain's armband in the absence of Lawrence Shankland.

Tynecastle is loud.

Away we go at a rocking Tynecastle.

The players are just emerging at Ibrox.

Image source, SNS

Ryan Stevenson
Former Hearts forward on BBC Sportsound

Derek McInnes seems fired up.

After he did his interview [with the BBC], he walked into the middle of the park and stood watching Celtic warm up, eyeballing the Celtic players.

He stood there for a minute, a minute-and-a-half. He'll be in there, going through the Hearts players, telling them how massive and pivotal this game is.

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Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Djiga, Fernandez, Meghoma, Raskin, Chukwuani, Aasgaard, Olsen, Miovski, Moore.

Substitutes: Kelly, Nsiala, Aarons, Diomande, Curtis, Antman, Gassama, Bajrami, Danilo.

Dundee: McCracken, Astley, Graham, Samuels, Wright, Congreve, Dhanda, Hamilton, Jones, Hay.

Substitutes: O'Hara, Ingram, Digby, F Robertson, Murray, Halliday, Reilly, Cotterill, Bevan.

Heart of Midlothian: Gordon, Steinwender, Halkett, Findlay, McCart, Milne, Leonard, Magnusson, Kyziridis, Braga, Kabore.

Substitutes: Schwolow, Kent, Kabangu, Spittal, Wilson, Altena, Kerjota, McEntee, Ageu.

Celtic: Schmeichel, Araujo, Trusty, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Engels, Nygren, Yang, Maeda, Cvancara.

Substitutes: Sinisalo, McCowan, Tounekti, Bernardo, Hatate, Murray, Forrest, Donovan, Ralston.

While we wait for the players to emerge from the tunnels, let's get a reminder of the teams...

New Rangers players Andreas Skov Olsen and Tochi Chukwuani are getting used to their new surroundings.

Chukwuani made a brief cameo in the recent Scottish Cup win over Annan Athletic but today is the real nitty gritty for both players.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

Danny Rohl's revived Rangers are waiting in the wings to take advantage of the top two going head to head.

And the side sitting third behind Celtic on goal difference will be favourites to make it eight wins in a row against Dundee.

That's despite the Dark Blues having drawn 1-1 on their last visit to Ibrox - a result that contributed to Russell Martin quickly losing his job as Rangers head coach.

Having to play almost an hour with 10 men in Bologna on Thursday after the dismissal of Reo Hatate will test Celtic's power of recovery, squad size and resilience, as will the concession of a 2-0 half-time lead.

However, Celtic arrive with confidence revived, having won all seven of their league games during Martin O'Neill's two spells as interim manager following the exits of Brendan Rodgers and Wilfried Nancy.

Amazingly, though, Celtic have lost each of their last five away league games against opponents starting the day top of the table - and two of those were against Hearts, in August 2018 and last October.

We dusted off the BBC Scotland calculator in an attempt to work out how many points it will take to win the Premiership this season.

As it stands, leaders Hearts are projected to finish on 86, which would be a lower haul than each of the five previous champions.

That is a key reason why we are watching one of the most intriguing top-flight campaigns unfold in Scotland.

For some pre-match reading, click here to see how we crunched the numbers behind a gripping three-way battle.

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Hearts head coach Derek McInnes tells BBC Scotland: "Marc [Leonard]'s a player who'll be everybody's first pass, he'll take that responsibility to get on the ball.

"Getting a player of his ability is so important, and he'll have the confidence and character to deal with the game. He's had a couple of real good training days.

"Disappointed we've not been able to get some of our forward options in. I'd have liked one new face in the forward area, but we've still got a bit of the window to go and we believe that'll happen next week.

"I'm lucky that I've got two very good goalkeepers, and both lads have a case. Whatever way I landed today, there'd be justification.

"When you've lost key characters and players, you need a wee bit more in the dressing room. Craig [Gordon] has played in this fixture a hundred times, and sometimes it's more your gut than anything else."

Ryan Stevenson
Former Hearts forward on BBC Sportsound

I'm not surprised that Derek [McInnes] has gone with four centre-halves across the backline.

People have been saying this could be a big wobble for Hearts and I think he would take a draw today.

It is a big miss, the three players who are out, but if I was one of the players coming in, I would be absolutely bursting to prove I'm a good player and ready to face Celtic.

Defensively, they'll sit in, but I think they will have a real go at Celtic and I see too much fragility in Celtic.

Hearts will be looking to bounce back from last weekend's surprise penalty shootout exit in the Scottish Cup at home to Falkirk.

That ended a run of 12 home games without defeat this season, but Derek McInnes' side remain in pole position in the league, six points ahead of both Celtic and Rangers.

Win today and they will become the first Hearts side to have beaten Celtic three times in a single league campaign - a statement feat that will answer critics who doubt their sustainability given their injury problems.

They would also become the first side other than Rangers to beat Celtic in three successive league meetings since Aberdeen in 1990.

Dundee head coach Steven Pressley tells BBC Scotland: "Like any time you come here, we need the perfect performance.

"We need to be brave, brave with the ball, brave against the ball and we need an element of luck, and if we get that then of course we can get a result, but it's a tall order.

"Rangers go into this game with seven straight wins, they're not conceding many goals, there's a renewed energy and confidence around them so it's a really difficult game for ourselves.

"The expectation is Rangers turn up and win. We have to prove them wrong. We have to show that bravery that I talk about to get any sort of result. It's one of the biggest things coming to a place like this, the psychological approach of the team.

"You can't come here hoping, you can't come here desperately trying to get through the first 30 minutes. You've got to come here with that belief that we can get a result and we have to show that today."

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It's not all about the top three today, of course.

Dundee are involved and Steven Pressley's men have shown they can be a match for the top sides in the league this term.

The head coach of the Dens Park side has just been talking to BBC Scotland...

Pat Bonner
Former Celtic goalkeeper on BBC Sportsound

Probably both managers, while they would love a win, if they walk away today without losing, they would be quite happy.

Hearts have got a tough run after this and what Celtic can't afford to do is lose this game.

Celtic also made their move in the transfer market, plugging their striker gap by Thursday's arrival of Czech Republic international Tomas Cvancara on loan from Borussia Monchengladbach.

It was move made more timely by Johnny Kenny picking up an injury in their 2-2 draw in Bologna that evening and with Kelechi Iheanacho losing his race for fitness.

Read more.

Image source, SNS

Image source, SNS

It is an indication of the importance of the today's game that Hearts and Celtic have both been scrambling to acquire new signings to bolster their starting line-ups.

Not surprising considering the consensus is that January recruitment could be the telling factor in what is now a three-horse race for the title.

Doubly so for Hearts considering they have lost possibly their two most key players in captain Lawrence Shankland and midfield dynamo Cammy Devlin to lengthy spells on the sidelines.

They also have another influential midfielder, Beni Baningime, suspended.

Hearts paid a fee to hasten the arrival of Rogers Mato, who was due to arrive in the summer, from North Macedonian leaders Vardar, but he appears to be unavailable today.

However, former Brighton midfielder Marc Leonard is straight in to make his debut after signing on loan from Birmingham City after Forest Green Rovers had rejected an approach for their captain, Laurent Mendy, earlier in the week.

Read more.

Rangers head coach Danny Rohl tells BBC Scotland: "Both (Tochi Chukwuani and Andreas Skov Olsen) are excited to play in front of our fans. It's also important that they make really a solid performance, come and be part of our good group.

"We want to achieve something this season. We have a clear mindset of what we want to do. We want to strengthen the squad, we want to bring some exciting players and all in all, we are happy.

"Some rotation, after Thursday you need this - fresh legs - and then some players will finish the game today. Youssef (Chermiti) is ill. The last 48 hours, he got fever. Bojan (Miovski) did well in the cup. It is good to have him available.

"We face a tough opponent today. They have a little bit of a run, good, organised. Not easy to play against. We have to do our job.

"Be on front foot, humble, don't think that everything is easy in this league even if it feels at the moment easier with seven wins in a row, but you have to work hard, especially today because everyone expects a win and you can just fail."

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Celtic fans, are you backing Tomas Cvancara to have a positive debut?

Let's get a vote of confidence on those thumbs...