HEARTS captain Perry Kitchen expects to face a much-improved Rangers side at Ibrox this afternoon. The Tynecastle side ran out comfortable winners when the teams last met in Edinburgh 10 days ago, an evening when Mark Warburton’s side struggled to get out of first gear.

Rangers, though, bounced back last weekend with a big win over Aberdeen and Kitchen expects them to be formidable opponents again today.

The American said: “Rangers are a top side and it’s going to be a tough challenge. We expect a better Rangers side than we saw at Tynecastle. For us to match that, we’re going to have be even better than we were that night. It’s a big game with a lot on the line. We’ll be ready for it.

“I think it will be between us, Rangers and Aberdeen for second place this season, definitely. They are both good sides and it’s tight up there.”

Ian Cathro will take his bow as Hearts new head coach and Kitchen revealed the 30 year-old had made a strong first impression.

He added: “When we saw Ian in the dressing room and he took us out to training, nobody was thinking about his age. We were very aware of how it’s going to be. He’s the coach. He’s in command. He’s out there barking orders.

“You don’t stand there and think: “Oh, this guy is only 30 …” You don’t think that at all. He has a confidence, he has the right ideas and he has demanded the respect of his players from an early stage. There was a confidence about him, a swagger, a belief that he was the right guy for the job – and that his ideas, his philosophies, were really going to benefit us. Over the past couple of days, it already has.”