Lawrence Shankland misses Heart of Midlothian's Premiership clash with St Mirren.

The striker has not been selected in Steven Naismith's starting XI due to illness. He trained on Friday but is not fit enough to feature against the Buddies.

Calem Nieuwenhof is also out, while Beni Baningime, who was a doubt, is absent due to an illness.

The Hearts forward line will be led by Alan Forrest and Kenneth Vargas in a 3-5-2 system.

It is the first time Shankland has been unavailable for a league game this season and it's just the second match he has missed this campaign having sat out the Scottish Cup fourth-round tie win over The Spartans in January due to illness.

The 28-year-old is the club's top scorer with 27 goals.

Hearts will be looking to get back to winning ways in Paisley having lost at Ross County and drawn with Kilmarnock at Tynecastle Park on either side of the international break last month.

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