Hearts boss confident his men can repeat January win at Rugby Park

The Jambos boss, clutching a commemorative Wills and Kate mug of tea, joked he had to turn down an invitation to Westminster Abbey in order to prepare for a key game in Ayrshire, which Hearts will aim to win to put further pressure on fourth-placed Dundee United.

Should the three points return with the Tynecastle men and United slip to defeat at Celtic Park on Sunday, third place and European football next season will be guaranteed in Gorgie.

Killie have overcome Hearts twice already this season - both wins coming in the Capital - but surrendered a one-goal advantage at Rugby Park in January with less than 20 minutes to go, Stephen Elliott striking twice to win it for the Jambos. Hearts will aim to complete the full set of four away victories in the fixture this season, with Jefferies highlighting the importance of gaining three points.

"Even though they've beaten us twice at home and they've had a great season, we managed to get the result against them down there," said the Hearts manager. "So we'll keep our fingers crossed when can do it again."

Providing a major obstacle for Hearts will be a nominee for Scotland's players' player of the year award, Alexei Eremenko. The Killie midfielder, signed by Mixu Paatelainen on loan from Metalist Kharkiv at the start of the season, has proven to be a revelation in midfield.

"Eremenko's been a real find for them this year," said Jefferies. "He's a top player, and you can see that. He's got the ability when he sees a pass to actually play it.

"He's been not just good for Scottish football but good for Kilmarnock. He's a top player, and I'm surprised that nobody's got him signed up.

"I'll be linked with him likely, like I'm linked with them all. But, I think he's probably headed for the Premiership."

Before he makes any moves in the transfer market, Jefferies has Hearts' final four games to negotiate. He is acutely aware of the importance of each.

He said: "There are four games left and we'll go and do our best to win them all. We're in a great position, we know that win has been elusive in the last few weeks (Hearts have drawn their last four games], but we've been picking up points. We've had to chop and change because of injuries."And we have the same problem again this weekend."

Jefferies confirmed that long-term absentee Lee Wallace could resume light training next week, which represents welcome news for a club whose treatment room continues to host Jason Thomson, Callum Elliot and Kevin Kyle.

The Tynecastle boss revealed that Suso Santana underwent an operation to cure a troublesome knee earlier this week and will not feature again for Hearts this season. Andrew Driver, also the victim of knee pain, may next week be subject to treatment similar to that of his Spanish club mate. Ruben Palazuelos participated in light training yesterday, while the length of wait for Darren Barr to return to first team action depends on the player's reaction to a recent hernia operation. Barr's fellow defender Andy Webster, who withdrew from last week's draw with Motherwell due to injury, learned from a scan earlier this week that a pain in his groin stems not from a tear but a less severe strain. Jefferies was hopeful that the centre back would return to training this morning.

"Wee Suso has battled on," said Jefferies. "He was meant to go for an operation a couple of weeks ago but felt he could maybe get by until the end of the season. The more he's tried, the more damage was caused and the result was he went for an operation (on Wednesday]. "Credit to the wee man, he's battled away and actually played well in the couple of games we had him available. But, there's too much damage.

"We've had that with Rudi as well over the last few weeks, and we're keeping our fingers crossed to keep as good a squad together as possible. Then we can make steps to get (the injured players] fixed again and have a little bit longer recovery for next season."

Meanwhile, Jefferies quashed recent reports that Hearts would pursue Jim O'Brien, reasoning that he already possesses a wealth of wide players and has a more pressing need to strengthen elsewhere. "It's other areas of the team that we'll be targeting," he said. "The obvious one is up front because Kevin Kyle will miss the start of the season and Callum Elliot also probably - so that's the main area where we'll try to bring in."