Craig Levein is preparing his Hearts side for Friday's Sky Live Edinburgh derby - and believes it is as keenly fought as the Old Firm clash.

Hibs head coach Neil Lennon this week claimed he enjoyed a less intense and fraught build-up to the matches and described them as a "lot tamer" than the Glasgow showdowns.

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But speaking ahead of Friday's Scottish Premiership encounter in Leith - a game part of Rivalry Weekend on Sky Sports - Levein said: "The last time we were down there when he [Lennon] did his lap of honour, he looked like he was enjoying himself.

"It's a derby match and you can't say one set of supporters love their club any more than another support.

"The feelings are the same for a derby match between the Old Firm and for a derby between the Dundee teams and the teams in Edinburgh. It's just there is a bigger crowd at the Old Firm. It's the same thing.

"It's always a massive game, I love this fixture. Yeah, there's only three points at stake, I get that, but for me there's more importance attached to this than a lot of matches we play, just because of the nature of the game and the rivalry between the two clubs and supporters."

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Lennon admits he is concerned by Hibernian's lack of match action given the Easter Road side will not have played for 13 days by the time the teams kick off live on Sky Sports Football.

He said: "My only concern is we haven't played since a week last Saturday, while Hearts have had two games in between.

"That could work for them or it could work for us so it will be interesting to see how we approach the game early on, to see if there's any rustiness there."

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Lennon has a refreshed squad to pick from. Hibs have not played for almost two weeks due to adverse weather, giving players such as Martin Boyle (Achilles) the chance to return to training.

The only absentees remain the long-term injuries, with Vykintas Slivka, Ross Laidlaw and David Gray all out, while Brandon Barker is expected back before the split.

Hearts are hopeful centre-backs John Souttar and Christophe Berra will shake off fitness doubts to face Hibernian at Easter Road.

Souttar has a hamstring problem while Berra had an injection in his ankle before suffering a head knock against Motherwell on Sunday. Winger David Milinkovic is likely to miss out after sustaining a knee injury in training.

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On-loan Manchester United left-back Demetri Mitchell faces six to eight weeks on the sidelines with a torn meniscus in his knee while Arnaud Djoum (Achilles), Jamie Brandon, Rory Currie (both knee) and Malaury Martin (groin) are all long-term absentees.

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