Hearts 'top players in Scotland' assessment as Robbie Neilson puts Scottish Cup above Europe

No matter the Hearts XI which takes to the field against St Mirren on Saturday in the Scottish Cup quarter-final clash, the line-up will consist of the “top three, four players” in the country, according to manager Robbie Neilson.

The Tynecastle Park side were decimated with injuries during their 2-2 draw with Dundee United at Tannadice on Saturday in the Scottish Premiership.

Alex Cochrane, Gary Mackay-Steven, John Souttar, Cammy Devlin and Nathaniel Atkinson were all replaced due to concussion, broken hand, ankle knock, hamstring complaint and illness respectively.

On top of that, Josh Ginnelly received treatment on the pitch at full-time, while Beni Baningime and Peter Haring also felt discomfort.

Players will be given until the last minute to prove their fitness but the likelihood is they will be without Cochrane, Mackay-Steven, Souttar and Devlin, as well as Michael Smith.

Neilson believes running with a smaller squad will prove to be a benefit as the club look to book their place in their fifth cup semi-final in the last four seasons.

“We’ve had a really good fitness percentage throughout the season then we have a wee period where we have got a number of injuries," he said. “Some are a day, some will be two, some will be three days, some will be three weeks. We just need to deal with it.

"I’m not going to go into the details of all the players because we’ll be here all night!

“There are still a few that are borderline. Some will come in on Saturday morning and we’ll test them, we’re hoping those extra days recovery will be fine.

“The benefits of [a smaller squad] is that the 11 that start on Saturday will all be top three, top four players in Scotland. We don’t have a 24-man squad where we have ten really good