Dundee boss Neil McCann has received a “big bonus” with the news that striker Sofien Moussa is fit to face Hearts at Dens tomorrow.
The 29-year-old Tunisian has missed his side’s last two games against Celtic in the Betfred Cup and Kilmarnock in the Premiership after picking up a knee injury.
Moussa, who has six goals to his name already this season, has now recovered with McCann revealing that he also has a big decision to make on two other experienced players.
Marcus Haber who suffered a thigh injury against Aberdeen last month is edging closer to full fitness while Paul McGowan who missed the trip to Rugby Park last week because of a groin problem has returned to training this week.
McCann said: “Moussa is back in full training and should be OK for the weekend which is a big bonus. “With the artificial surface last week and his knee injury I don’t think he would have been comfortable with it.
“Marcus is almost there, it’s whether we take a risk on him. He’s back training and I’ve got a decision there to make.
“Having both back would be great because we’ve got options there if we wanted to be quite direct but we’re still assessing Marcus and whether we take a risk on him.
“McGowan is back training but he’s another we’re keeping an eye on because we have a bit of strength in the squad, we can afford not to take any huge risks.
“We have an international break afterwards so if we wanted to push someone, there’s time to recover.”
McCann admitted he has studied Hearts closely and he has targeted areas where his side have to be wary.
He knows that any team managed by former Scotland and Dundee United boss Craig Levein is not to be treated lightly.
McCann added: “I expect a different side to the one under Ian Cathro, clearly. Craig Levein is going in there with a wealth of experience and I think having the luxury of watching so much of Hearts from upstairs he’s probably had a big benefit a lot of managers don’t have.
“Having an advantaged position, you can see the whole structure of the game.
“You can see under Craig they are working very hard and they look really organised which is a hallmark of Craig’s teams.
“It’ll be a tough game for us. I’ve watched them against Partick Thistle and they have real threats going forward we need to combat so we’ll be putting in a lot of hard work this week with that in mind.
“I know what type of manager Craig has been in the past and you can see he’s relishing being back on the sidelines again.”
When asked if he was looking forward to pitting his wits against the experienced Levein, former Hearts player McCann said: “It’s not about facing managers – I’m just relishing being a manager myself and every facet of it.
“I’m still learning massively, and you have to learn quickly, but I feel we are doing that.
“It’s a great game to look forward to against one of my old clubs which is nice. I’m looking forward to it.
“I think it’s coming together. I said I was disappointed with last Saturday’s performance but there were contributing factors to a flat performance so I can’t be too critical of them.
“I expect better of them but I wasn’t going to batter them because I felt the exertions of the Celtic game and the artificial surface just didn’t help anybody.”
