Hearts will hopefully recover from their demoralizing start to the Europa League group stages when they travel to Latvia to face Rigas Futbola Skola with kickoff at 10 pm.
Hearts were supposed to be progressing this season, but they’ve dropped to sixth place in the Scottish Premiership after losing six of their last seven games.
The one win during that time came against St Johnstone, a close 3-2 victory. Now, Hearts are playing Turkish giants Basaksehir at home.
Basaksehir were supposed to be rivals for second place behind Fiorentina, but instead, they ran riot in Edinburgh—they beat Hearts 4-0 with three goals from the game’s final quarter.
RFS has been the surprise package in Europe after Andrej Ilic’s 74th-minute equaliser earned them a 1-1 draw away to Fiorentina, coming from behind to stun the Italian side.
The team’s wait for a clean sheet in European fixtures has been stretched to seven matches and 14 months, but they are now in the race for qualification, with their easiest match on paper to come next.
Although RFS are on a 10-match unbeaten streak in all competitions, they are seven points adrift of the leaders in Latvia’s top flight.
RFS vs. Hearts Head to Head
Both sides are yet to face each other at this competition stage. Here is a look at their previous encounters:
Home
- RFS 3-0 Spartaks
- Fiorentina 1-1 RFS
- RFS 1-1 Riga FC
- RFS 5-0 SC Grobina
Away
- Hearts 0-4 Basaksehir
- Livingston 1-0 Hearts
- Hearts 0-1 Kilmarnock
- Hearts 3-2 St. Johnstone
RFS Team News
Morozs will almost certainly keep the same starting XI from the draw against Fiorentina. However, Morozs has some options in reserve: Rakels, who has eight goals from 15 league games this season, could slot into the attack if Morozs wanted to switch to a front two.
Hearts Team News
Heart of Midlothian manager Robbie Neilson will be boosted by the return of Jorge Grant from suspension, a move which could see the midfielder occupy the most advanced role of the central three. Toby Sibbick and Gary Mackay-Steven should also be in contention for recalls, given how well they performed last week.
Prediction and Odds
This match will likely go right down to the wire, but we’re going to side with Hearts to earn a well-deserved share of the spoils.
- Draw
- Double Chance
- Goals Under 3.5
