Hearts star Craig Halkett insists starting off against Celtic is the perfect way to return to the Premiership.
And he's urged his Tynecastle team-mates to lay down a marker and show where they want to be moving forward this season.
The centre back was part of the Hearts side that got relegated and then immediately bounced back up and he insists things have to be much better this time around.
But the former Rangers kid reckons taking on Celtic so early in the season is a great way to test where they will be come the end of the campaign.
Hearts will be expected to immediately challenge for European places by their fans and Halkett wants Robbie Neilson's men to start the season in a confident manner.
He told Sky Sports: “Like every first game of the season it’s going to be tough. It’s going to be fast paced and fiery but it’s one we’re looking forward to.
“From us coming up last year, I don’t think you can get a better game to get you going.
“It’ll set a marker for us of where we want to be this season if we can go out and get a result.
“We’ve came up and all the boys are confident after a good pre-season. You don’t get a better game to start with than at home to Celtic, especially at Tynecastle and getting fans back in.”
Supporters are back in the ground with just over 5000 allowed into Tynecastle for Saturday night's clash with Celtic.
And Halkett believes that could be a huge boost to the club because it's a notoriously difficult venue to go to with the fans right on top of you.
He added: “We all know it’s going to be a lot tougher this year. Obviously the year before was disappointing with us getting relegated and we all know what we need to do this season to hit our targets.
“It’s going to be huge. Everyone missed the fans last year, it was a difficult season but we got the job done.
“Going forward this year, especially at Tynecastle, opposition players know how difficult it can be coming to Tynecastle with the fans and the noise they create so to have them back will be fantastic.”
