Levein seeking rare win in Perth to arrest Hearts’ slide

● Breaching Saints’ defence no easy task ● Berra may be rested to ease recovery

Sstriker will in fact make his 20th appearance of the campaign this evening at his old place of work.

Injuries to fellow strikers Uche Ikpeazu and Steven Naismith have seen Maclean used far more often than was originally planned when he left St Johnstone for Hearts during the summer.

Levein is not likely to alter his starting line-up greatly from Sunday. He is toying with the idea of resting Christophe Berra to protect the captain. Berra made his first appearance in four months at the weekend and another demanding fixture three days later may be seen as a risk.

Levein is content to let the 33-year-old make the final call. “I don’t know yet. The second day after the game is always the most dangerous one. Obviously with Jimmy Dunne being out for six weeks then the temptation is to put him back on the field again but he’ll make that decision.”

Dunne’s ankle problem is the latest in an unfortunate injury saga which has seen Hearts robbed of Berra, Ikpeazu, Naismith, John Souttar and now Dunne. Levein still hopes to extend the Burnley defender’s stay at Tynecastle beyond January, when his exsiting loan agreement is due to end.

“He’s been amazing,” said the manager. “I really want to keep him if I can but he’s done that well I wouldn’t be surprised if they [Burnley] kept him or tried to put him to the Championship or something like that. But I want him back. If we’ve got him, Christophe and John Souttar then I think we’ve got a really strong back line.”

0 Craig Levein has seen his side go six games without a victory, finding the net just once in that time.