At around 6.30pm, a notification will pop up on the phones of Heart of Midlothian fans. The team lines are in and the starting XI for the Europa League play-off second-leg clash with Viktoria Plzen has been announced.

What will it show? A change in formation? A raft of changes? Only one or two? Will Lawrence Shankland make it? Who will play if he doesn't? 

All these questions will be asked between now and this evening.

So far Hearts have started with a back four then a back three. Back to the back four and then the back three in consecutive games. From game to game, the number of personnel changes has been: 1, 8, 5 and 4.

What does Steven Naismith do tonight? Revert to worked well against Rangers.

Good organisation, aggressive in the right moments to press, and then transition quickly with Kenneth Vargas stretching the opposition backline. It was by far the team's best performance this season. 

That Scottish Premiership opener feels like a long time ago now but it perhaps offers the best blueprint for success. Hearts don't need to control the ball to be a threat. In fact, you could go as far as to say Hearts are much more of a threat when they have less possession than the opposition.

Viktoria Plzen boss Miroslav Koubek claims his side are not coming to sit in and protect their 1-0 first-leg advantage and they may look to take the initiative with possession. That is fine, as long as Hearts show aggression, energy, and intent.

Intent. Watching Hearts against Motherwell it was hard to see any when attacking prior to going 2-0 down.

That can't be the case against Plzen. It is the only way to engage the crowd and get them onside.

(Image: BeFunky)

While the approach may be the same as against Rangers the starting XI will have a few tweaks. Firstly, it appears Craig Gordon has hold of the No.1 jersey. In front of him, the full-backs will likely be James Penrice, who was rested at the weekend, and Gerald Taylor who looks most comfortable as an orthodox right-back.

There is a choice to be had for who partners Frankie Kent. But with the size of the Tynecastle Park pitch, pace is not as much of a concern. Therefore Stephen Kingsley who is a more consistent and reliable presence.

The question mark in midfield is who partners Malachi Boateng, Cammy Devlin or Jorge Grant? A strong argument could be made for either but Devlin's energy and ability to rise to the occasion on the European stage will help set the tone early in the game. 

Read more

In front of them is where things get interesting and perhaps controversial considering how fans feel about certain attackers and certain positions. It is forgotten that Barrie McKay had a pretty solid game on the left against Rangers and worked well off the ball. On the other side, perhaps it would be better to opt for the pace and direct running of Yutaro Oda, again to make it uncomfortable for Plzen early on.

Kenneth Vargas needs to find a better end product but there is no doubt he is a threat with his pace and the ability to turn the opposition defence.

Now, who sits in behind him? Should Lawrence Shankland not make it there are plenty of options to play behind Vargas: Liam Boyce, Blair Spittal, Yan Dhanda or Jorge Grant. The temptation would go for Dhanda as an out-and-out No.10.

Yet, I reckon Hearts fans will see Shankland leading the line for what could be a historic evening in EH11.