Rangers could see Hearts warm weather camp as Derek McInnes feeling the title race heat
Derek McInnes will be taking his Hearts side to Dubai for a warm weather training camp next month.
As revealed in a report from The Scottish Sun, McInnes and his Hearts players will travel to the United Arab Emirates city at the start of March.
The current Scottish Premiership leaders don’t have a game on the weekend of Saturday 7 March, as a result of them being knocked out of the Scottish Cup by Falkirk last month.
As such, McInnes has spotted this as an opportunity to jet his team away to Dubai, where he will be hoping his players can get some extra stamina into their bodies ahead of a massive title run-in.
Have Rangers rattled Hearts after Ibrox win?
Hearts currently boast a two-point lead over Rangers at the summit of the Premiership table, but Danny Rohl‘s side are now breathing down the back of the Jam Tarts’ necks.
The Edinburgh-based side could’ve gone a long way to ending Gers’ title hopes, and solidifying their own, had they emerged from Ibrox victorious last Sunday.
And they can’t say they didn’t have the chance to do exactly that, as twice they took the lead in that game, going 1-0 up after 16 minutes, and then taking a 2-1 lead with half an hour on the clock.
But, it would be Rangers’ day after all, with a Youssef Chermiti hat-trick leading the way to a memorable 4-2 win for the Glaswegians: a result which has thrown the title race wide open once again.
And so, you do start to wonder, has that defeat to Rangers rattled Hearts slightly, and is McInnes’ warm weather camp an unplanned excursion? Maybe might be the answer to both of those questions.
It certainly could be viewed through a Rangers lens as the pressure of the title race and the defeat at Ibrox perhaps getting to Hearts and McInnes somewhat, and they’ll certainly be hoping so.
There is also a chance McInnes is risking disrupting squad harmony by doing this, as some players may not feel the want/need to go for a warm weather training camp, and may have preferred to keep working at their own training ground as per.
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Hearts have largely been able to bounce back from defeats this season
The loss to Rangers will’ve been a tough pill to swallow for Hearts, as they know they had the game in the palm of their hands on two separate occasions.
However, the Tynecastle outfit are top of the table for a reason, and part of that is because when they have suffered setbacks this season in the way of losses, they have tended to respond immediately.
Indeed, they’ve won their very next game after suffering a loss in the league on their last two occasions, and were also able to go unbeaten with two draws before winning against Celtic in December after losing to Aberdeen on 23 November.
Therefore, Hearts have proven that they can instantly put losses behind them and get back on the winning trail this term, but Rangers may just believe that McInnes and his men are starting to feel the heat.
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