For the first time since February 2016, Dundee United and Hearts will face each other in the Scottish Premiership when they lock horns at Tannadice on Saturday afternoon.
The hosts have won their last two league games by a 1-0 scoreline, while the visitors have accumulated seven points from the opening three top-flight matches.
Match preview
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After securing a surprise 1-0 victory against Premiership champions Rangers in their first home league game, Dundee United then followed that up with a 4-3 penalty shootout win against Ayr in the second round of the League Cup as well as another 1-0 win away at St Johnstone last weekend.
An eventful 18 minutes for Peter Pawlett midway through the second half saw the midfielder poke home the only goal of the game before being shown a second yellow card for diving. Nevertheless, the Tangerines held on to claim their second victory from their opening three league matches.
Tam Courts has seemingly backed up the club's bold decision to promote him to head coach, with six wins from eight games across all competitions.
His next challenge is at home against Hearts, who they have beaten in three of their last four encounters at Tannadice, scoring nine goals in the process.
Dundee United will be aiming to win their third Premiership game in a row for the first time since March 2014 under former boss Jackie McNamara – a run that included a 2-1 win over Hearts.
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Hearts were unable to maintain their 100% start back in the top flight as they played out a 1-1 draw at home to Aberdeen last weekend.
Liam Boyce scored for the third successive game when he converted his 56th-minute penalty kick, before the Dons equalised through Funso Ojo 15 minutes later.
Robbie Nielson will have been delighted with his side's start to life back in the big time, but will not want his players to rest on their laurels as they aim to build on their strong run of form.
Hearts have struggled in recent years at Tannadice, winning just two of their last 11 top-flight meetings against Dundee United.
Claiming all three points on the road this weekend will see the Jam Tarts win back-to-back away matches in the Premiership for the first time since February 2019.
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Team News
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Dundee United will be without Pawlett through suspension, while Calum Butcher, Mark Connolly and Logan Chalmers are all ruled out with knee injuries.
Manchester United loanee Dylan Levitt played the full 90 minutes on his debut last weekend, and the 20-year-old is set to start once again in central midfield alongside Jeando Fuchs.
Courts used a flat 4-4-2 formation against St Johnstone, but could switch to a 3-5-2 system on Saturday, with Mark Reynolds returning to the heart of the defence alongside Ryan Edwards and Charlie Mulgrew.
As for Hearts, Andy Halliday played 75 minutes against Aberdeen on his return from an Achilles injury and will be in contention to start once again this weekend.
Defender Stephen Kingsley remains out through injury, so Alex Cochrane is set to fill in on the left side of the back three, with Halliday to start on the left flank.
Attacking front three Boyce, Josh Ginnelly and Gary Mackay-Steven are all likely to start again, though summer signing Ben Woodburn, who has joined on loan from Liverpool, will be in contention to feature.
Dundee United possible starting lineup:
Siegrist; Edwards, Reynolds, Mulgrew; Smith, Fuchs, Levitt, Harkes, Robson; Clark, McNulty
Hearts possible starting lineup:
Gordon; Souttar, Halkett, Cochrane; Smith, Baningime, Haring, Halliday; Ginnelly, Boyce, Mackay-Steven
We say: Dundee United 1-1 Hearts
Both sides have had impressive starts to the new campaign and will view Saturday's fixture as another game where they can claim three more points.
With little to separate the two sides, we are predicting a score draw to be played out at Tannadice.
Top tip
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Hearts win with a probability of 59.65%. A draw had a probability of 22.3% and a win for Dundee United had a probability of 18.07%.
The most likely scoreline for a Hearts win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.58%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 0-2 (10.78%) and 1-2 (9.87%). The likeliest drawn scoreline was 1-1 (10.59%), while for a Dundee United win it was 1-0 (5.69%). The actual scoreline of 0-2 was predicted with a 10.8% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Hearts would win this match.
