Ruben Palazuelos sidelined for six weeks

The midfielder, 26, suffered a knee injury in the Clydesdale Bank Premier League match against Aberdeen recently. He travelled to London last week to consult a specialist and was told he needs several weeks' rest before he can consider a return to training.

"Ruben has been to see a specialist and isn't to do anything for three weeks," said Jefferies. "Hopefully the rest he gets will help but he certainly will be missing for at least five or six weeks."

Teenage striker Scott Robinson faces a similar length of time on the sidelines, while Andrew Driver is set to miss tomorrow's league clash with Celtic. The winger suffered a reaction to his knee problem during the Co-operative Insurance Cup semi-final defeat by St Mirren at Fir Park last Tuesday.

"Andrew has had a wee reaction," said Jefferies. "The pitch wasn't the best for someone coming back from an injury like that. But he's improving as the days go on. It looked like he could be out for a couple of weeks but he says he's feeling better."

Meanwhile, the Hearts manager revealed Marian Kello has already established himself as his first-choice goalkeeper.

The Slovakian has started both the SPL game against St Johnstone and the League Cup clash with St Mirren.

Jefferies said: "He looks to me like a safe pair of hands. A lot of crosses which have come in he has dealt with well. He couldn't have done anything about the winner in the semi-final and in fact he saved us on a couple of occasions and kept us in the game at a crucial time. If we had gone 2-0 down, we might have lost by more. We have been very impressed by him."

Back-up goalkeeper Janos Balogh will therefore have to fight to reclaim the gloves.

Jefferies told Hearts News: "Janos was unwell last week so that's why he wasn't included against St Mirren.

"But he'll come back into training and we'll have a look at him if ever we feel the need. But I have to say Marian has definitely impressed us.

"It's up to Janos to keep pushing him. Keepers can easily get injured or lose a bit of form so he has to keep working hard. It's Marian's task to keep Janos out.

"We also have a couple of good younger goalies in Jamie MacDonald and Mark Ridgers so we're quite well off for keepers."