Team news: Lawrence Shankland starts for Hearts against Istanbul Basaksehir

Hearts boss Robbie Neilson has named his starting line-up to face Istanbul Basaksehir, with Lawrence Shankland leading the attack for the home team.

The Tynecastle side begin their Europa Conference League group stage against the Turkish side and are looking to use home advantage to get off to a flying start.

Neilson has named an attacking line-up for the match, though Craig Halkett is not yet fit to return to the defence.

Craig Gordon starts in goal and captains the team, with Alex Cochrane, Stephen Kingsley and Mikey Smith in defence.

Andy Halliday, Cammy Devlin, Peter Haring and Nathaniel Atkinson all start in midfield, while Barrie McKay and Alan Forrest play either side of Shankland up front.

🇪🇺 Tonight's #UECL XI to face İstanbul Başakşehir pic.twitter.com/fHIxkHk3q5
— Heart of Midlothian FC (@JamTarts) September 8, 2022

Ahead of the game Robbie Neilson said it’s important his side are clinical in front of goal if they want to get a positive result.

“It’s going to be a tough game but we feel that coming to Tynecastle, if we can get the levels we got against FC Zurich, then, you know, we’ve got a real chance,” the Hearts boss said. “The simple answer to that is we need to score the goals when they come.

“We had three or four really good chances and we didn’t take them. You see it with Celtic last night, especially in the first half, had two or three exceptional chances.

“You don’t take them, you get punished at this level. And that’s the small details that make the difference.”