Neil Critchley is under no illusions about the size of the task facing his Hearts side at Ibrox against a Rangers team they have not beaten on their own turf since 2014.
But that does not mean the former Liverpool coach is ready to roll over and accept defeat before a ball is even kicked.
Far from it.
While Rangers have again saved their best performances for European competition this season – even the Olympiakos boss admits Philippe Clement’s team were superior during that hard-earned 1-1 draw in Greece – their form on the domestic stage gives Hearts at least some reason to arrive at Ibrox with a semblance of confidence.
The Edinburgh outfit more than held their own during a valiant 2-0 defeat against Heidenheim – the seventh best team in Germany in 2024/25 – during their own midweek travails.
And Critchley believes that, if Hearts have any chance of winning at Rangers for the first time in 17 attempts, they will need to show similar levels of spirit, organisation and desire.
Neil Critchley explains how Hearts can stun Rangers at Ibrox
“You know when you’re going to Ibrox to play Rangers, you know you have to do certain things well,” Critchley told reporters.
“We have to recover quickly. We don’t have long to prepare but that is the schedule, and its a great challenge.
“I saw lots of positive things with and without the ball [against Heidenheim]. Again, if you want to go to Ibrox and win, we have to do all those things again and that’s the challenge. You have to repeat [the standard of performance].
“And that’s the challenge for us as a group now.”
Critchley replaced former Rangers frontman Steven Naismith in the Tynecastle dugout less than a month ago.
And to say Hearts are in the midst of a proverbial ‘new manager bounce’ would be an understatement, a 4-0 hammering of St Mirren mere days after the manager’s arrival more than doubling the points tally they previously had under Naismith in one afternoon.
But beating a bonafide big-hitter on their own soil – Rangers vs Hearts kicks off at 5pm on Sunday evening – would go a long way to helping Critchley convince any remaining cynics.
Cammy Devlin desperate to end Rangers hoodoo on Sunday
“Rangers are a good side. They had a good result against Olympiacos,” says Hearts’ Australian midfielder Cammy Devlin, a loser in 10 of his 14 meetings with the Glasgow giants. “No matter how they’re going, when they’re on it, they’re a really good side so we’ll need to be on our game.
“Since I’ve been here, we’ve had a few draws and some close calls against them. The first game of the season against them [a drab 0-0 draw] was a real positive game for us but we just couldn’t get the breakthrough.”
“Going there is always tough but we’ll have our own game-plan and try and implement that.”
“We can take a lot of confidence from the way we performed [on Thursday],” Devlin adds. “We’re playing good football at the moment.”
Hearts, largely owing to the dismal beginning they endured pre-Critchley, are still very much embroiled in a relegation battle as things stand, however. Rangers are under pressure to get a win of their own, meanwhile, at risk of falling 12 points behind before the November international break.
