Where Hibs v Kilmarnock could be won and lost

Hibs welcome Kilmarnock to Easter Road on Saturday August 1 for the opening game of the 2020/21 Scottish Premiership season. Both sides have made signings over the summer, but which positions and players could have the biggest impact on the match result?

Striker conundrum

Both sides face something of a dilemma when it comes to attacking options. For the home side, Christian Doidge is expected to be fit after recovering from an injury while summer signing Kevin Nisbet and academy graduate Jamie Gullan will be pushing for a start.

Assuming he opts for two up front, Hibs head coach Jack Ross will have to choose which duo get the nod on Saturday, bearing in mind they will likely be up against the experienced centre-half pairing of Kirk Broadfoot and Stuart Findlay.

Nisbet and Gullan have both been on the scoresheet in pre-season, while Doidge hasn’t featured since the first bounce game against St Mirren. There’s a possibility the Welshman could start on the bench but between the three players, Hibs will have a strong starting duo as well as a good option on the bench.

Doidge and Nisbet plundered 40 goals between them last season, albeit for different clubs, but both will be aiming to hit the ground running come 3pm on Saturday.

For Kilmarnock, the main issue is the fitness of striker Eamonn Brophy. The Scotland cap is understood to have suffered an injury during a pre-season clash and will likely have to sit out the trip to Edinburgh.

Manager Alex Dyer looks to favour a front two and while Nicke Kabamba is likely to start, the Rugby Park boss will have to choose who partners the former Hartlepool man up top. New signing Danny Whitehall, who joined from Maidenhead United, could get the nod – which would leave Killie light on forwards for the bench – or Greg Kiltie might be preferred.

Ostensibly a winger, Kiltie can also operate as a second striker and has been in good form in pre-season. Starting him in a more advanced position would allow Dyer to keep Whitehall among the replacements and have an option to shake things up depending on how the match plays out.

The Burke effect

The winger might be 37 in December but he remains a key part of the Kilmarnock attack – and he has a decent record against Hibs in the last few seasons.

Since the Capital club returned to the top flight in 2017, Burke has faced them on nine occasions, contributing one goal and three assists.

He has mostly been used as a right winger and occasionally on the right of a front three, but will pose a threat from wherever he is played.

With an eye for goal as well as setting them up for his team-mates, the evergreen wideman scored six times and laid on 14 for his colleagues in 26 games last season and could be pivotal in providing ammunition for the Killie strikeforce.

Allan key

Scott Allan was the hero for Hibs in their opening fixture last season, netting the winner against St Mirren with time running out.

The playmaker scored ten and registered 11 assists last season, mostly from his favoured number ten position, and is likely to start there against Kilmarnock at the weekend.

With his eye for a pass, he could very well be the man to unlock a Killie defence that conceded eight fewer goals than Hibs last term.

Battle of the midfield powerhouses

Kilmarnock are set to be without Gary Dicker in the engine room after the Irishman underwent a double hernia operation, so Mohamed El Makrini looks the obvious candidate to partner Alan Power in the defensive midfield positions, with Rory McKenzie on the left wing and Burke on the right.

For Hibs, the arrival of Alex Gogic over the summer gives them added steel in the middle and a presence the side was missing last term.

The Cypriot enforcer is expected to fill the void left by the departure of Marvin Bartley in the summer of 2019, and with the former Hamilton man protecting the Hibs defence and snapping at the heels of any Kilmarnock midfielder who venture forward, Kilmarnock may well have to look for alternative routes to goal.

The potential head-to-head between Gogic and Power is a mouthwatering prospect, with no quarter likely to be given by either player, but having the ex-Hamilton man anchoring the midfield could go a long way to helping Hibs get a result in this meeting.