Hearts will return after the World Cup break with the expectation of starting with a home win against Kilmarnock on Saturday. Certainly, the indications point to the Tynecastle side being good enough to get the three points.

Robbie Neilson’s side have been a strong force at home all season. They have posted four wins from seven matches, while the two defeats that they have suffered in the league have come against runaway leaders Celtic and Rangers. Indeed, shortly before the close of play for the World Cup, they pushed the Hoops close in a 4-3 defeat.

By contrast, Kilmarnock have been abysmal away from home. From their eight away matches to date this season, they have picked up just a single point and have scored just one goal, conceding 14. Prior to the World Cup, they lost on the road to bottom side Dundee United by a thumping 4-0 margin.

While Hearts will be battling injury issues, this has been the case for much of the season, while the break will have allowed the squad to have recovered from a busy autumn in which they played European football, stretching the fitness levels of the team to the maximum. The Jambos will expect to be fighting to finish third at the end of the season and that push starts now.

Kilmarnock strangely had won five straight against Hearts before a 2-2 draw earlier this season, but that was a first league meeting between the clubs in two-and-a-half years, so it would be wrong to read too much into the head-to-head records of these sides.

If the pre-World Cup form of Livingston and Dundee United is anything to go by, this match should be a home banker. After all, the hosts finished up before Qatar 2022 in powerful form, losing only one of their previous six matches, including good draws away to Rangers and Hearts. On the other hand, Dundee United were beaten in five of their last six matches.

Livingston have certainly built themselves as a team that constantly punches above its weight. In six league matches against non-Old Firm opponents at home, they have picked up five victories. One point of concern is that these are invariably low-scoring games, meaning that Livingston often leave themselves little room for error. A low-scoring match is, therefore, likely.

Dundee United, meanwhile, have spent much of the season in no kind of form. The Tangarines have already changed manager once but Liam Fox is struggling to get a tune out of his new team. There have been highlights, including 4-0 home wins over Aberdeen and Kilmarnock, but they have struggled away from home.

Indeed, United’s only away win in any competition this season was at Livingston in the League Cup, but that was in Fox’s first much, when there was still a feel-good factor around the club that the unpopular Jack Ross had been sacked. Since then, they have lost four of their five away matches.

Livingston won the previous league match between these clubs 1-0 in August, and a similar scoreline is the likeliest outcome in this match.

Goals are on the cards when Alloa meet Falkirk in a local derby on Saturday. These sides have already met once this season, with Falkirk running out 3-1 winners, and a similar type of match is in the works at the Indodrill Stadium should it beat the weather.

Alloa, after all, are arch-entertainers at home. Their eight league matches at home have produced an incredible 32 goals, with only one of these fixtures failing to yield at least three strikes. This record was maintained against Queen of the South last weekend in the Challenge Cup, when they played out a thrilling 4-2 defeat.

Home manager Brian Rice wants his team to play in an attacking manner, and against a Falkirk team that will be without both its regular starting centre-backs plus long-term absentee Paul Watson, that is liable to means goals. The Bairns are set to play players out of position to plug the gaps.

Meanwhile, Falkirk’s away matches are typically more entertaining than their home games. Indeed, eight road trips have produced 27 goals while nine home games have brought just 24. Three of their last four away matches have brought over 2.5 goals, including a 3-3 away draw against Clyde in the middle of November – their last away league game.

Certainly, they have more than their share of defensive concerns coming into this match, having conceded seven in their last three, which may in turn force them to become more attacking.

Look for this game to be the fourth in succession to produce three of more goals between these teams.

FC Edinburgh are yet to earn the respect of the bookmakers, despite sitting second in League One after winning promotion from League Two last season. They certainly do not deserve to be going into their match against Montrose as underdogs.

On paper, Edinburgh’s form is not great. They have a losing record over their last eight matches, with four defeats and only three victories in that time. However, the three league losses they have suffered in that time have come against full-time opponents, while the Scottish Cup defeat against Darvel was played out on a field that was not fit for football.

Meanwhile, they have won their last couple in the league, coming from 3-0 down to win 4-3 against Alloa in their previous home game to register a fourth league win from four at Meadowbank against part-time opponents.

Montrose are not coming into this match in good form, either. The Gable Endies have lost three of their last four games and have failed to score in either of their last two in the league. They are also not a particularly strong force away from home. They have won three times on their travels in the league this season, but those wins have come against the bottom three in the league.

The only previous meeting between these clubs came on October 1, when Edinburgh were surprise 2-1 winners at Links Park. It would not be such a big shock if they were to win this match, though.

Annan have run into some form in recent weeks, but both teams to find the net looks the likeliest outcome when they play host to Bonnyrigg on Saturday.

The Borderers have lost only one of their last five matches, which is a particularly good run given that four of those were away from home. Indeed, they went to East Fife and secured a 3-1 victory a fortnight ago to push themselves away from the foot of the standings.

Clean sheets at either end of the park, meanwhile, have been hard to come by in Annan matches this season. There have only been five clean sheets either for or against Annan this season in 17 league matches, with two of those coming in the first three weeks of the season. It is worth noting, though, that one of those came when Bonnyrigg shut them out in a 2-0 loss in October, though that midweek match was always liable to be a fiendish one.

Bonnyrigg, meanwhile, are winless in six and have won only one of their last 13 in all competitions, sliding to the bottom of the league as a consequence. In recent weeks, though, their form has slowly started to improve again. They are presently on a sequence of four successive draws achieved against Forfar, Stenhousemuir, Dumbarton and East Fife – three of these have been 1-1.

Indeed, their games have started to become more open since the beginning of October. Although they have often been involved in low-scoring draws, eight of their last 10 have seen both teams find the net and against a leaky Annan team, there is little reason to believe that trend will stop here.