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Hearts icon Berra says league leaders primed to split the Old Firm in Premiership title race

- BY FRASER MACKIE

CHRISTOPHE BERRA feels Hearts have a golden opportunity to mount a challenge to Celtic's supremacy.

But he knows Derek McInnes won't dare admit there's a chance for Jambos to take advantage of a dodgy Old Firm.

Berra was part of the Gorgie group that won 10 and drew two of their first dozen games in 2005/06 under George Burley.

In the aftermath of him being binned, they couldn't keep up that pace. But despite much Vladimir Romanov chaos, Hearts finished runners-up and won the Scottish Cup.

There's huge excitement again 20 years on as the Tynecastle men lead the table by two points from Celtic after six games.

Berra believes this is the most realistic chance since for Hearts to put up a good fight. And, at the very least, he can see them splitting the Glasgow duo again.

He said: "Looking on paper, of course Rangers are very fragile to put it politely. And Celtic are missing a couple of key players; they've not hit top form.

"Previously, Celtic have tended to start slow. They've got a lot of experience and a lot of good players. They're going to click and get momentum and win the games when they need to do it.

"Rangers, on the other hand, have a young, inexperienced squad under a lot of pressure. You can't see at the moment how they're going to recover.

"Compared to where the two teams are, it's a realistic option. Celtic and Rangers back then were a different beast than they are now, with some of the players they had.