Hearts head coach Derek McInnes believes Edinburgh rivals Hibs could be their "hardest game" as they look to clinch the Scottish Premiership title.
They kick off their post-split fixtures away to their Edinburgh rivals on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, sitting one point ahead of Rangers at the top of the Scottish Premiership.
The Jambos, who have led the way virtually all season, have five games left to play in their quest to lift the title for the first time since 1960.
"Arguably, it could be our hardest game for lots of different reasons, Hibs away and the derby and everything that entails," he told Sky Sports News.
"I'm absolutely delighted with the players' efforts to get us into this position.
"Like most things, whether it's a race or any title race, it's always the last few games that normally decide everything and that's where we are.
"It's such an exciting situation for the three teams involved, but every team in the top six has got something to play for.
"Obviously you play the best teams now in the top six and there's a lot at stake for each team, none more so again on Sunday."
Hearts have the best head-to-head record against the teams in the top six this season, but lost on their last trip to Easter Road in December.
McInnes knows their rivals will be determined to dent their title aspirations.
"Any Hearts-Hibs fixture, regardless of where both teams are in the league, it's never meaningless," he said.
"A big aspect of their motivation in front of their home fans is not to let Hearts win the game, but you'd expect that and they've got to expect a tough game from us.
"The games have all been pretty tight.
"Obviously, we took a sore one there in the last time out. We've got to learn from that and hopefully, as I say, we start better, we perform better over 90 minutes and hopefully we get a better outcome."
McEntee and Magnusson to miss title run-in
McInnes revealed influential Hearts player Oisín McEntee will miss the remainder of the title run-in.
The versatile Irishman, who has been deployed at right-back, centre-back and midfield this term, went off with a hamstring injury in the second half of the 3-1 win over Motherwell earlier this month.
"Oisín's out for the season unfortunately, so real bad news for us on that one," said McInnes.
"He has got a tear in his hamstring, to go along with Tomas Magnusson's tear in the thigh. So it's two big competitors and big parts of our team out.
"Harry [Milne] is progressing really well. He's touch and go for the weekend and we just need to weigh that up, how much work he does before the weekend, whether he gets involved or not.
"If he doesn't make this one, he should be in place for the next one against Rangers."
Initial post-split games to be shown live on Sky Sports
- April 25: Celtic vs Falkirk, 5.30pm
- April 26: Hibernian vs Hearts, 4.30pm
- May 3: Hibernian vs Celtic, 12pm
- May 4: Hearts vs Rangers, 5.30pm
- May 9: Motherwell vs Hearts, 8pm
- May 10: Celtic vs Rangers, 12pm
