Hearts v Celtic: Clubs wait on fitness of Lawrence Shankland & Daizen Maeda in Scottish Cup
Lawrence Shankland missed the league meeting with Celtic on WednesdayVenue: Tynecastle Park, Edinburgh Date: Saturday, 11 March Kick-off: 12:15 GMTCoverage: Listen on BBC Radio Scotland Extra, live text commentary on the BBC Sport website & app
Hearts and Celtic face late fitness calls on key attackers for their Scottish Cup quarter-final meeting at Tynecastle on Saturday.
Hearts captain and top scorer Lawrence Shankland is a doubt after missing Wednesday’s league defeat at Celtic through injury.
Daizen Maeda limped off for Ange Postecoglou’s side in that match and missed training on Friday.
“He’s improved but he didn’t train today,” said Postecoglou.
“He’s still working with physios.”
Meanwhile, Hearts boss Robbie Neilson says he is more likely to risk Shankland, who has 21 goals this season, due to the significance of the game.
“If there’s a possibility then we will [play him], because it’s such an important game for us”, he said.
“It’s an opportunity to get to Hampden, and when you look at the other draws, the teams that are in it, it’s a great opportunity to progress further hopefully.”
As well as Shankland, Alex Cochrane and Stephen Humphrys have also been battling to prove their fitness for Hearts, but Josh Ginnelly, who went off injured in midweek, is fit to lead the attack.
Greg Taylor missed the 3-1 win over Hearts on Wednesday, but Postecoglou says everyone other than Maeda is “fine to go”.
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