EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — Scottish league leader Heart of Midlothian will be without injured top scorer and captain Lawrence Shankland for at least six weeks as the Edinburgh club tries to end the 40-year title monopoly of Glasgow giants Celtic and Rangers.
Hearts said Tuesday that Shankland strained his hamstring in a Scottish Cup exit against Falkirk at the weekend and will be sidelined for “6-8 weeks.”
Shankland’s 11 goals in the Scottish Premiership is the best in the league as Hearts seeks to be champion for the first time since 1960.
He also scored in a wild 4-2 win over Denmark in November as Scotland advanced to the World Cup for the first time in 28 years. It will play Haiti, Morocco and Brazil in June.
Hearts leads by six points from both Celtic and Rangers and hosts four-time defending champion Celtic on Sunday. Shankland also will miss a Feb. 15 game at Rangers.
The four-decade run of only Celtic and Rangers winning the Scottish league started in 1986 with a last-day collapse for an unheralded Hearts team. An unbeaten run from October into May ended by losing at Dundee when needing just a draw, which let Celtic be champion on the goal difference tiebreaker.
Season of surprises
In a season of title upsets in Europe, Hearts aims to join Mjällby of Sweden and Viking of Norway in the next Champions League qualifying rounds.
In France, Lens is top ahead of European champion Paris Saint-Germain, seeking the club’s first title in 28 years, and Swiss league leader Thun has never won the national title in its 128-year history.
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