There is a good chance that the goalkeeper and back four of Alexander Schwolow, Oisin McEntee, Craig Halkett, Stuart Findlay and Harry Milne will start when available.

The same can be said of the front three of Lawrence Shankland, Claudio Braga and Alexandros Kyziridis. In midfield, Cammy Devlin played every game for McInnes before his injury at the start of the year.

For Sunday, however, Milne is unavailable, and Stuart Findlay will likely have trained only once since sustaining a hamstring injury.

The good news is that McInnes has both Michael Steinwender and Jamie McCart to call on to join Halkett, who himself returns from injury, in the middle of defence. The left-right balance may see McInnes opt for McCart alongside Halkett.

McCart, however, may still be required at left-back, but with Stephen Kingsley having trained over the last two weeks following his groin injury, he should be available to start his first game since the loss to Hibs on December 27.

Interestingly, McInnes revealed after the win over Dundee that Jordi Altena was a consideration for left-back when Halkett pulled out of the XI with a back spasm.

They decided against it as they had already worked on having the Dutchman play as a “high 8” in midfield.

That brings us onto the right side of midfield. It is the only position no one has nailed down at any point this season. The closest Hearts came to a regular there was Milne, a left-back.

McInnes has a few options available to him.

Altena, in the win over Dundee, demonstrated his capability on the right, albeit tucked in slightly. The Dutchman is an assured technician, positive in possession and provides balance in a 4-4-2 that can become a 4-3-3.

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Blair Spittal is another option and he replaced Altena in the second half. He can operate as a tucked-in midfielder who looks to play forward often.

In Islam Chesnokov and Sabah Kerjota, McInnes has more natural widemen. The latter is likely deemed more of an impact player, while the former will definitely be considered for a start, but he only returned at the end of the week following international duty.

Magnusson would also have been considered, were it not for the injury he picked up this week.

That leaves the other midfield position. Even then, who partners Cammy Devlin is a toss-up between two players, Marc Leonard and Beni Baningime, and Leonard has the jersey to lose. Any two of the three are a strong midfield pairing.

One change we can predict with confidence is that Shankland will return to the attack at the expense of Landry Kabore, as McInnes looks to reprise the front three that terrorised defences across the country earlier in the season.

That means, from the win over Dundee, Lawrence Shankland, Stephen Kingsley and Craig Halkett replaced Landry Kabore, Michael Steinwender and Frankie Kent.