Michael Stewart
Former Hearts midfielder on BBC Sportsound

A very strong save from Butland to keep Rangers from going behind there.

The following corner is flicked by the head of Gerald Taylor.

No troubling the goal, however.

Almost a debut goal for left-back James Penrice.

The Hearts defender works with Barrie McKay on the left and breaks into the box before forcing Jack Butland into a stunning stop at his near post.

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Hearts win themselves a corner which comes to nothing.

Jack Butland then lasers a beauty of a punt forward but Rangers can't trigger a counter.

Lee McCulloch
Former Rangers captain on BBC Sportsound

I know we're only five minutes or so into the match but both teams are going so direct.

Gerald Taylor highlights why Hearts fans are so hyped about him by bodying Ridvan Yilmaz off the ball.

But he loses it in his box seconds later. Luckily for him it comes to nothing.

Lawrence Shankland's first shot of the season comes after a minute.

A well-hit half volley from the edge of the box stings the palms of Jack Butland.

Good effort.

Both sides look to go long from their keepers within the first 30 seconds.

This home crowd is up for it.

Strap in, folks.

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The teams are out at a scorching Tynecastle.

It's almost time.

Hearts: Clark, Taylor, Kent, Rowles, Penrice, Devlin, Grant, Vargas, Dhanda, McKay, Shankland.

Substitutes: Gordon, Kingsley, Halkett, Oyegoke, Oda, Spittal, Forrest, Boateng, Boyce.

Rangers: Butland, Tavernier, Souttar, Davies, Yilmaz, Barron, Diomande, Lawrence, Wright, Cortes, Dessers.

Substitutes: Kelly, Matondo, Cerny, Dowell, Jefte, Balogun, King, McKinnon, Danilo.

Tom English
BBC Scotland's chief sports writer

Almost every day brings new gossip about clubs circling the waters around Lawrence Shankland. They’re interested, they’re preparing a bid, they’re on the cusp of making a move - and nothing continues to happen.

At Hearts, all you hear is that nobody has bid anything for Shankland at any time. Just paper talk fuelled by somebody, somewhere.

Shankland’s importance to Hearts is, of course, enormous. The striker scored 44% of Hearts’ league goals last season. With his four assists, he had 28 goal involvements in 37 Premiership games.

The speculation will carry on, but there’s no convincing evidence just yet that he’s actually going anywhere.

Click here to read Tom's 12 Premiership thoughts.

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Hearts manager Steven Naismith tells BBC Scotland: "You get to the point where you just want the season to start and I think we're all at that point.

"I think the measure of success is that at the end of the season you can say the club is further forward than the season before.

"We're a driven group, I'm very demanding and we want to be successful. We tasted good moments last season and we want more of them.

"The challenge is definitely harder this season because we're in group stage European football but we've recruited for that."

When asked about improving their results against Rangers this term, Naismith added: "I think in a lot of the games against Rangers it was small margins, our mistakes cost us.

"Rangers have got players that can hurt you and punish you. If you give them a hand in doing that then you're going to get punished and I think that happened quite a lot last season against Rangers.

"I hope we can guard against that and cause them problems as well."

Clive Lindsay
BBC Sport Scotland

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Hearts fans had a long wait for the arrival of pre-contract signings Blair Spittal and Yan Dhanda, two of the Premiership's most influential attacking midfielders last season with Motherwell and Ross County respectively.

However, it is Gerald Taylor who has perhaps created the biggest buzz during pre-season.

The 23-year-old starts today and looks a good bet to solve the problem right-back position after arriving on a season-long loan, with an option to buy, from Deportivo Saprissa via participation with Costa Rica at Copa America.

BBC Radio Scotland

Sportsound is already under way and the team will provide live match commentary from Tynecastle.

After that, they will provide the same coverage from Fir Park, where Motherwell host Ross County.

Only one 15:00 kick-off in the top flight this Saturday. What's that all about? Game's gone.

This is how the seasons kick off in the third and fourth tiers.

It's unpredictable at the best of times, but it really is difficult to call the lower leagues this season.

Philippe Clement's admission that the Rangers squad is currently "probably not better" than the team that ended last season jumps off the page.

The season starts in 17 minutes.

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Rangers manager Philippe Clement tells BBC Scotland: "It feels like ages ago that we had a competitive game. I'm looking forward to the new season. This is the start of our marathon.

"You want to win everything. I want players who want to win every game. That is where we put the bar and we'll go hard for that.

"I believe in the players we're signing, in the things we're doing, the recruitment as well, which is not just short-term any more.

"The squad now is probably not better than it was at the end of the season but we are working on it to make it better."

On today's opponents, Clement added: "It will be an open game with two teams who really want to battle to win the game.

"I don't want to concede three goals, we made some mistakes at the end of the season in that way.

"I expect a better performance. If we can score three goals I'll be happy.

"Today is also thinking about Tuesday and I will need rotation in my squad to get results in both games."