Hearts' on-loan goalkeeper Janos Balogh looks set to make his first start for the club on Saturday.
Marion Kello is struggling to recover from a head knock that led to him being replaced by Balogh at half-time during Sunday's Edinburgh derby.
Hungarian Balogh, who is on loan from Debrecen until January, is now poised to face Aberdeen at Tynecastle.
But Uganda midfielder David Obua is likely to be missing again this weekend through injury.
Manager Csaba Laszlo hopes Obua will be fit enough to face Celtic the following weekend.
Right-back Robbie Neilson, who has been on the sidelines since April through injury, has been told he can return to training within the next 10 days.
"I just need to impress the manager, who has not seen anything of me since he came in"Neilson has suffered a series of injuries, the latest being an Achilles problem which required surgery in London.
But, following a consultation this week, he told Hearts' website: "I've been running and basically doing pre-season training at the moment.
"You need to get a certain level to get back to the first team training, but I feel I am nearly there and, in the next week, I can get back with them."
Jason Thomson and Eggert Jonsson have both filled the right-back slot this season in Neilson's absence.
"There's always competition if you are out for a long time as someone will come in and stake a claim," said Neilson.
"I just need to impress the manager, who has not seen anything of me since he came in."
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