I have to say that I think whoever wins Sunday’s game at Murrayfield between Celtic and Hearts will take a massive psychological advantage into the league meeting between the teams the following weekend.

But this game on Sunday is huge for Celtic because it is a defence of a Cup they have held onto since Brendan Rodgers first went into the club – the first trophy that he won with the Parkhead side and the first senior trophy of his managerial career.

So there is no way that Celtic will want to relinquish it. And Hearts are about as tough a tie as they could have got.

I am full of admiration for Craig Levein and what he has done with the Tynecastle side this season. They have been impressive and deserve their spot up at the top of the table.

But through the last couple of performances Celtic have shown that they are coming back into their own groove. They have scored ten goals in their last two domestic outings and you would like to think that this is the start of a little bit of momentum for them.

The big advantage for Hearts is that not only are they playing just across the road from their home stadium but they don’t have the magnitude of the game that Celtic have on Thursday night. I am sure they’d happily swap that but it does mean that they will be far fresher going into the tie that Celtic could be given their journey home from Germany.