Despite being second best in the 0-0 draw with Hibs at Pittodrie at the weekend, the Dons maintained their five point lead over Steven Naismith’s side in the race for third. With only nine points up for grabs between now and the end of the season the teams meet in an early kick-off in Gorgie on Saturday.

Aberdeen could confirm third spot with a win, providing Hibs fail to beat Rangers at Easter Road on Sunday. Doing so would guarantee them European group stage football should, as expected, Celtic win the Scottish Cup. With that Robson believes the pressure is on Hearts.

“Hearts are a good side and it is a difficult venue to go,” he said, as per the Press and Journal. “But the pressure is going to be on Hearts, not us. We are sitting in third place and will go down there and try to win the game. It is up to us to go to Hearts and perform as well as we can.”

Robson expects his side to “to be back to our old selves” after a disappointing performance against Hibs. Lee Johnson’s side were frustrated not to walk away with all three points having hit the woodwork numerous times and missed a penalty.

“You cannot be brilliant in every game,” he said. “We will perform miles better against Hearts, I’m really confident of that. Sometimes you don’t play well. I know that and have been there a million times.

“We all have games like that one against Hibs when things are not going well and you are not playing at your best. What you need to do then, when you feel like you can’t win it, is don’t lose it. And they didn’t lose.”

Meanwhile, Aberdeen have opted against pursuing a place for a B team in the proposed Conference League which could sit under the SPFL as the fifth tier of Scottish football. The club explained their reasoning on Monday.

Aberdeen boss in 'pressure on Hearts' in race for 3rd and Dons will be 'miles better' at Tynecastle claim

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