Hearts manager Robbie Neilson hopes to welcome back a host of key players – including top scorer Lawrence Shankland – for Saturday’s cinch Premiership trip to Aberdeeen.

Shankland, Robert Snodgrass, Stephen Humphrys, Alex Cochrane and Yutaro Oda have all missed recent matches through injury, but Neilson is optimistic that the first four named will be available for the high-stakes showdown at Pittodrie.

“We’ll hopefully have the majority of them back but we’ll see tomorrow,” Neilson said. “It’s important to have as many of your key players available as possible. We’ve had a difficult run all season (with injuries) and in this wee period we’ve been losing a number of our attacking options, which makes it a bit more difficult.

“Lawrence has trained the last few days so if he gets through tomorrow, he should be ready. Robert and Alex are the same.”

Lawrence Shankland pictured back in Hearts training ahead of the weekend match against Aberdeen at Pittodrie. (Photo by Mark Scates / SNS Group)

Lawrence Shankland injury update as Hearts boss Robbie Neilson addresses striker’s Scotland snub