Having suffered a third consecutive away defeat and with Celtic and Rangers having narrowed the gap at the top, Derek McInnes will be glad of some home comforts as he looks to allay the narrative that his long-time leaders are cracking under the title pressure.
The coming weeks will certainly be a test of his managerial expertise, starting with the visit of a side led by former Hearts caretaker and captain Steven Pressley.
Pressley knows all about how the Tynecastle crowd can be 12th man in the good times but can quickly turn febrile in frustration.
Hearts remain unbeaten at home in the Premiership this season, but since losing on penalties to Falkirk in the Scottish Cup in January, they have drawn with Celtic and scraped three successive 1-0 wins.
The nervousness and tension could at times be cut with a knife and Dundee arrive buoyed by their two-goal, stoppage-time fightback to draw Sunday’s city derby.
Eight points clear of St Mirren and Kilmarnock, Pressley’s side are not yet clear of relegation trouble but are edging there after five unbeaten games.
McInnes has also been here before, leading Aberdeen to four consecutive second-place finishes as they became Celtic’s main challengers during Rangers’ financial problems from 2014-18.
He will be forgiven if he is haunted by the memory of the 2015-16 season, when his Dons were only three points behind Celtic with 14 matches to play before faltering in the final stages to finish 15 points behind.
The increasing nervousness could explain why, since the start of February, Hearts have scored just five goals from 77 shots in the Premiership, a conversion rate of 6.5% – the lowest of any side in the competition in this time.
Their xG/shot of 0.076 is also the lowest of any side in the top-flight in this period. Dundee, meanwhile, top both of these metrics since 1 February (15.2% conversion, 0.129 xG/shot).
The return from injury of Scotland striker Lawrence Shankland, along with key midfielder Cammy Devlin, should help improve those stats for Hearts.
They thumped Dundee 4-0 on their last visit in November, but McInnes would no doubt settle for a repeat of the 1-0 win at Dens Park in January and a sixth victory over the Dark Blues on their latest seven trips to Tynecastle.
