Hearts boss Robbie Neilson expects Dundee will have an advantage ahead of the big Championship kick-off between the sides next Friday night.
And he plans to rotate his Jambos squad accordingly in their Betfred Cup group stages matches.
Following tomorrow’s trip to Brora Rangers in the cup, James McPake’s Dark Blues have a free midweek before heading to Tynecastle.
Hearts, meanwhile, face Cowdenbeath at the weekend and then Raith Rovers on Tuesday.
And Neilson says he will have to “manage” his Jambos squad with an “eye on Dundee”.
The former Dundee United boss told Edinburgh Live: “This wee period is difficult for us to balance everything.
“The first objective is to get through the group stage.
“We want to win the three games but secondly, we want to be going into that Dundee game as fresh as we can be.
“They had their game cancelled on Tuesday night, they play Saturday but then they don’t have any midweek games next week, so they’ve got a decent build up to the game on the Friday.
“We have four games in 11 days so we have to manage the squad.
“So we’ll make a few changes for the game against Cowdenbeath and we’ll make a few changes again for the game against Raith Rovers.
“We’re going to try and win the games – that’s the objective – but we’ve also got our eye on Dundee.”
The two sides are expected to battle it out at the top of the table during the shortened Championship season, though Hearts are strong favourites in the eyes of the bookies.
Despite being second in the betting, Dundee are as high as 9/1 in some places to win the title.
