Derek McInnes: Hearts keeping feet firmly on ground following strong start

Derek McInnes stressed nobody in the Hearts dressing room is getting carried away with their strong start in the William Hill Premiership.

The Jambos are joint top of the league with Celtic after a rousing 2-0 victory away to Rangers last time out left them with 13 points from their opening five matches.

Aided by the influence of minority investor Tony Bloom and with access to the renowned data firm Jamestown Analytics, the buoyant Edinburgh side are being tipped to challenge for a top-two finish this season.

“Nobody’s feet are off the ground,” McInnes said ahead of Saturday’s visit from Falkirk.

“We’re only a few games into the season. You only get a real flavour of where you’re at as a club after the first couple of rounds of fixtures.

“If we’re through the first couple of rounds of fixtures and we’re sitting where we are, then we can have a different type of conversation.

“For me, we just need to knuckle down and get on with the job. The season’s in its infancy. Although we’re going into October, there’s not been a lot of league games.

“We just need to try and improve. Expectations are already raised and they’ll only raise even more, but we can’t do anything about that.

“I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, to be honest. But for us, we just need to focus on winning each game.”

McInnes revealed record signing Ageu was awaiting the results of a follow-up scan aimed at establishing exactly when he will return following a hamstring injury that ruled the Brazilian midfielder out of the last match away to Rangers.

“He’s actually presenting well, so fingers crossed for that one,” McInnes said.

Right-back Christian Borchgrevink is back in contention after being sidelined since the opening day with a thigh issue, while Frankie Kent, who has undergone knee surgery, and goalkeeper Craig Gordon remain sidelined.

“Frankie was due to be out four to six weeks so he’s probably a couple of weeks into that now,” said the manager.

“Craig’s picked up a little hamstring thing, he felt discomfort at the top end. He’s been back out doing a wee bit of handling today, so he’s definitely going the right way, but he’s not available for the weekend.”