Not only have Hibs vanquished Celtic this week, they've also dished out a fairly hefty hammering to Hamilton. If they are in the mood tomorrow, they could do the same to us. If we concede an early goal as we did on Wednesday night, then it could be a long, hard and ultimately fruitless afternoon.
While Hibs seem to be able to create chances at the moment, we can't. The Rangers game on Wednesday night saw us carve out just a couple of decent opportunities and it was the same against Motherwell last weekend. Worryingly, that's far better than the week before against Hearts when we created nothing. The strikers, be it Billy Mehmet, Craig Dargo or Michael Higdon, are getting very little to work with these days and they often squander the one good chance we create if it comes along.
Sadly, there isn't much that can be done to change things in terms of the midfield. We may have midfielders falling out of cupboards at our shiny new training complex, but we've tried just about everything and it doesn't make any difference. What is needed is a change in playing style, or even formation. We need to be more direct, pass the ball around quickly and perhaps play it for strikers to run on to once in a while.
Admittedly, an away game at Hibs may not be the best time to start changing things like that after sticking with it for two years, as it could end up in us being ripped apart. However, if we're going to stick with Mehmet and Higdon up front - which worked pretty well on Wednesday - we surely have to bring Steven Robb in, if he's fit. If you play a couple of big strikers, having a winger who can deliver a decent cross is surely of benefit. If Robb does play, it could see Andy Dorman dropped. He hasn't been himself in recent weeks and probably needs a spell on the bench. However, there's every chance it will be the same team as Wednesday, the only alteration maybe being Dargo replacing Higdon. Chris Smith and Tom Brighton are still out injured.
As if Hibs needed any more of an incentive after the week they've had, a win tomorrow could see them move up into second in the SPL. As a result, John Hughes will probably have them pretty fired up. The Hibs boss isn't backward about going forward and usually has his teams set up to attack from the off, with forwards Anthony Stokes, Colin Nish and Derek Riordan all starting at Parkhead on Wednesday night!
Riordan and Stokes are the most dangerous players in the Hibs squad, with Stokes having a wonderful season after finally getting his career back on track. Riordan is another one who's had a few off the pitch problems, but the pair seem to have got themselves sorted out now that Hughes is in charge. As well as scoring, the players are also capable of opening up opposition for team mates, as is tricky Morrocan Merouane Zemmama.
As if things weren't already hard enough, Hibs also seem to have found themselves a decent goalkeeper. Graeme Smith is far, far better than Yves Ma-Kalambay and is much less error prone. He put in an inspired display against Celtic on Wednesday, although if our recent games are anything to go by he won't have anywhere near as much to deal with tomorrow. Same goes for the Hibs defence, which contains strong players such as Ian Murray and Chris Hogg.
It would be tough playing Hibs at any point, but considering the different fortunes of the two sides this week, it really couldn't be any harder than it will be tomorrow.