One horse could lose in the three-horse Scottish Premiership title race on Monday night.
Or all three teams could be separated by one point. That is the danger of division, and that is why we all love division.
With four games remaining, league leaders Hearts host third-placed Rangers (live on Sky Sports) with a four-point advantage over their title rivals.
For Danny Roll, it’s pretty much a win-lose situation, as if his team loses, they have more than a furlong to recover.
It’s a coveted opportunity for Derek McInnes to eliminate his rival from title contention.
Are Hearts still underdogs?
Tynecastle have been in the lead after every game since Round 6, and remain undefeated in league matches at home.
They are also aiming to equal Sir Alex Ferguson’s record for most wins against the old firm in a single season, which stands for nearly 50 years.
But McInnes insists his team remains the underdogs.
Perhaps they’ve been at the helm for so long that we’ve all forgotten about that label, or the consistent level of performance that kept them at the top.
Either way, Hearts is in uncharted territory.
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Hearts head coach Derek McInnes talks about his PFA Scotland Award nomination and the title race ahead of Monday’s clash with Rangers – live on Sky Sports.
“Usually we go into these games as underdogs, but I think this season we’ve always been underdogs with real belief, real belief,” McInnes told Sky Sports News.
“We’ve played with confidence and belief that we can win the game. Whether it was last week or any derby game we’ve played so far, we’ve always tried to give it our all and try to win the game with a lot of late winners.”
“The games against Rangers and Celtic were good references going into these games because you have to rely on everything.
“But I think at this stage of the season you just try to find a winning performance, because a win can bring a lot and a loss can be very damaging and there’s not a lot of room for error.
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Hearts striker Lawrence Shankland speaks to Sky Sports News about his hopes of winning the title and being nominated for the PFA Scottish Premiership Player of the Year award.
“We’ve done really well and I think that’s down to the team’s determination.
“I think we’ve used Tynecastle really well this season, which is exactly how I wanted it to be and how I wanted this season to go for the team.
“We want to create as hostile and noisy an atmosphere as possible and take advantage of every little advantage.
“Rangers have a big spending advantage over us. Just the fact that we’re having the same conversation shows everyone’s effort and the fans have a role to play on Monday.”
Roll: My heart trips like the “Cup Final”
Speaking to Sky Sports News in March ahead of the game against St Mirren in his absence, Rolle declared the next game the first of “nine cup finals”.
He referred to the cup final after each win and took each game one by one until Motherwell coach told him it was his second league defeat since taking over in October last year.
Importantly, the loss deprived Rangers of the title, who had previously won four straight games and scored 15 goals in the process.
But if they lose on Monday, the remaining three “cup finals” could be combined into a standings match.
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Rangers head coach Danny Rolle admitted Monday’s trip to Hearts was “huge” for his side’s hopes of competing for the Premiership title.
Coach Rohr told Sky Sports News: “We have an important game ahead of us. I think everyone is looking forward to this game, not only the supporters but also us.”
“We are playing against the leaders and we want to get points. We have four games left and I think it is important to understand this.”
“This is a very big game. If we win, will it be the last final? But after the last final there will be another final, and this will continue until the end.
“There is no point in giving more importance to one game than another.
“We have to play against strong opponents. I think they have performed well all season, but we want to play against them, we want to get something, and after this game there is the next final.”
Monday, May 4th 5pm
5:30pm kickoff
Can Hearts eliminate Rangers from the title race?
Arithmetic, no. But with a seven-point difference, that’s a tall order.
Since Hearts took the lead on September 27, Rangers have been the only team to temporarily defeat Hearts, albeit for less than 24 hours.
A win for the Jambos is about more than just three more points. This narrows the focus and makes it almost a direct shoot-out with second-placed Celtic, who they play on the final day.
However, McInnes won’t rule out Rangers just yet.
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Kris Boyd talks about the Scottish Premiership mix-up after Hearts beat derby rivals Hibs and Rangers dropped points at Motherwell.
“Every team has a chance for a title. They have a chance to win a title and everyone can go about their business, so I still see it that way,” he added.
“So that makes it even more exciting. We feel like we did enough in this game and hopefully we do enough to win the game that night.”
“I don’t know how Rangers will look at it. I think everyone will look at this and think they’re still in a strong position.”
“Obviously, we have a small points lead, but that could change quickly. Last weekend was a good weekend for us, but we’re very aware that this weekend could easily be on our bad side. And all of a sudden there’s a little bit more optimism for the other teams.”
“From my point of view, I don’t know what other teams think, but at this stage everyone feels we have the performance to win the league.
“So we just have to focus on ourselves and not think too much about what the other side is thinking.
“We’re just trying to focus on our performance and hope we can do enough on Monday to win the game.”
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Hearts forward Claudio Braga has told Sky Sports News how he feels about his side’s hopes of winning the title. He is one of four candidates for the PFA Scottish Premiership Player of the Year.
Role: Tynecastle is a difficult environment
Hearts remain unbeaten at home in the league, having lost to both Old Firm sides at Tynecastle this season.
In fact, until last weekend’s loss to Motherwell at Ibrox, Rolle’s side had not lost since winning at home to the leaders in December.
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Highlights of the Scottish Premiership match between Hearts and Rangers.
With nearly 20,000 jumbos filling the steep terrace, Colin Chisholm belting out another goosebump-inducing rendition of ‘Hearts Song’ and McInnes calling for a ‘hostile’ atmosphere, Rolle knows just how tough the venue is.
“Well, I think it’s a difficult environment,” he added.
“They’re doing really well, they’re doing the basics right, they don’t have a lot of net game time in the game, they’re a lot of start-stops. I think we’ve got to address that.
“We’re going to be facing a lot of second balls, throw-ins and set pieces, but I think the referee’s performance on the pitch is also very important.
“It’s going to be a lot of dueling, 50-50 situations, but this is also very important. And we want to bring our style of football, our intensity, on the pitch and they’re going to bring their style on the pitch as well. And on this day we’ll see who is better.”
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PFA Young Player of the Year candidate Mikey Moore has assessed Rangers’ chances of winning the Scottish Premiership title after their defeat to Motherwell saw them drop to third place.
team news
Mr McInnes is “hopeful” that at least one, or perhaps both, of Cammy Devlin and Harry Milne will return in time.
Tule Romans returned to Rangers practice on Thursday, Ryan Naderi took a “big step” in his recovery, but John Souter had a “minor issue.”
