'No pressure' on table-topping Hearts insists McInnes

Hearts boss Derek McInnes insists there is "no pressure" on his team, who are sitting pretty six points clear at the top of the Scottish Premiership before Sunday's clash with third-place Rangers.

Hearts will lead the top flight at Christmas for the first time since 1991, with crisis-hit Celtic six points behind and Rangers a further three back. Both Glasgow clubs have played a game fewer than Hearts.

Despite that healthy advantage and the chance to extend the gap to Rangers at Tynecastle this weekend, McInnes says there is a "relaxed" feel to his squad.

"I would feel more mental fatigue if we weren't at the top of the league," he said. "Having been there, I want us to stay there. I want us to stay exactly where we are. I'm enjoying where we are. You've got to enjoy this and I keep saying to the players, 'you've done so well to get here'.

"We have to understand that we've done a lot right to get to where we're at and we have to do so much more to keep us there. The other pressures and things, I actually think we're all quite relaxed about it.

"I don't know how the players come across, but certainly when I'm in and around it, I think we're just enjoying it. I know Lawrence [Shankland] and others I've spoke about, they felt more pressure last season.

"Because there's nothing worse than feeling you're underachieving. There's nothing worse than feeling that we should be doing better.

"So at the moment, I don't think there is pressure on anybody at the club. We're all just enjoying what we're doing."

Hearts finished in the bottom six last season, but have taken the league by storm with McInnes at the helm and with Tony Bloom's Jamestown Analytics aiding recruitment.

Still, McInnes is under no illusions about the scale of the task required if they are to stay at the top.

"We've got to assume that other teams are going to improve. With that, we have to keep improving," he said.

"The motivation has to keep getting better and stronger. We've got to understand that the longer we're up there, there's a bit more on these games against Hearts at the minute.

"There's been a lot of high-profile games recently. Every game seems to be bigger than the next one. Sell-out at Celtic Park, sell-out at Falkirk, sell-out Sunday, sell-out at Edinburgh Derby, sell-out at the home game against Livingston. These are brilliant games to be involved in.

"We're exactly where we want to be in terms of that. For us to maintain it, we have to acknowledge that individually we need to improve as players. As a team, we're going to have to keep improving. That goes without saying."