Steven Naismith insists delaying Celtic’s ‘irrelevant’ march towards the title will not form part of his team-talk as Hearts chase down third place.
Ange Postecoglou’s side will be crowned Premiership champions if they manage to overcome Hearts at Tynecastle on Sunday.
The Gorgie side are desperate for the win as they attempt to close the five point gap on Aberdeen in the push for a potential £5 million European group stage place.
And former Rangers, Hearts and Scotland forward Naismith insists he is paying no attention to what Celtic’s objectives are.
Asked if stopping Celtic from picking up silverware would be mentioned to his players, the Hearts interim manager said: “No. For us, Celtic have been the best team over the season, they'll want to win the league.
"Our mindset is about us and what we can do.
"We've got games from now and the end of the season to try and get in the European places and that's got to be our focus.
“Whether Celtic win the league or not is irrelevant to us.
“It's an opportunity for us to go and try and get three points because at this business end of the season that's the biggest thing that matters. We need to win games of football to try and finish as high as we can.
“We need to be disciplined, we need to have full control of when we have and haven’t got the ball.
"Celtic have been the strongest team in Scotland consistently for two years now
“Celtic are very aggressive with the way they play and we need to be ready for that but when we’ve got the ball we need to show some of the good moments we showed against Ross County and cause problems.”
Naismith picked up his first win as caretaker boss in the 6-1 thrashing of County in Gorgie before the league split.
The Celtic clash is one of three home games between now and the end of the season and Naismith insists the backing of the fans is crucial as Hearts try to catch Aberdeen.
Speaking to Sky Sports, he added: “There’s not many better stadiums in Scotland to play any game and, going back to the Ross County game, the atmosphere was great and hopefully it’s the same this weekend.
“If we can start well and show our intent then the fans will come with us but we need to give them something to get behind us.
"They'll play a big part. When the split fixtures came out, that's a big benefit for us that we've got three home games.
"Our home results since I've taken over in the Ross County game have been very good.
"It was a great day for everyone and we've got to show that same enthusiasm and aggression to play in the opposition's half.
“These are the key things we need to do at home which then gives us the best chance to win these games."
