Hearts captain Craig Gordon says it’s ‘good to get Celtic as early as possible’ ahead of this Saturday’s cinch Premiership opener against his former side.

The 38-year-old rejoined Hearts from Celtic last summer and has been named captain after helping his boyhood club back into the Premiership as Championship winners. Hearts will also face Celtic in the Premier Sports Cup round of 16 next month and Gordon says it’ll be ‘special’ for him to lead his side out at Tynecastle.

Celtic v Heart of Midlothian - Scottish Cup Final

Craig Gordon and Hearts face Celtic this weekend in the weekend’s Premiership opener in Edinburgh. (Photo by Rob Casey/SNS Group via Getty Images)

He said of the match: “It’s probably good to get Celtic as early as possible, really. They are trying to rebuild currently and hopefully we can try and catch them a little bit cold early in the season. We know that’s going to be a really difficult task and we will need to play to the very best of our abilities.

“We got close and nearly beat them in last year’s Scottish Cup final, we played well and were unlucky not to win. So we will give it our best shot on Saturday. I’m not taking too much notice of Celtic to be honest. There’s been more than enough games here to keep us busy.

“We are looking forward to it. I’m really looking forward to being back in the Premiership and to lead Hearts out is going to be a very special moment. Hopefully we will get some tickets and my family can come to watch, because it will be a great occasion and we want to match that with a performance.”

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