HEARTS will travel to the East end of Glasgow on Sunday to face the Scottish Champions and run-away league leaders without Arnaud Djoum and possibly also Faycal Rherras.
Djoum has been an unused substitute and has watched Cameroon progress to the quarter finals of the African Nations Cup. And as a result he will miss the Hearts match against Celtic at the weekend.
The 27-year-old midfielder will stay with the national squad in Gabon until Sunday at the earliest after Cameroon finished second in Group A to earn their quarter-final place.
Cameroon will play Senegal on Saturday evening in Franceville and if they progress to the semi-finals Djoum will then miss next Wednesday’s home match against Rangers.
The midfielder has already missed Sunday’s Scottish Cup fourth round draw against Raith Rovers and will also miss tomorrow’s replay. This has become a ‘must win’ match for the Tynecastle side given that Hibs lay in wait in what would be a mouth-watering Scottish Cup showdown.
Djoum Tynecastle team-mate Faycal Rherras is also away on international duty with Morocco the African Cup of Nations and he too could also miss the Celtic match.
A draw against Ivory Coast in tomorrow’s final Group C game could take the North Africans into the quarter-finals along with Cameroon.
