Dundee may be 15 points away from closest rivals Hearts in the Scottish Premier League table, but with both sides in action this midweek, and still to face off in the league split, will there be more between them come the final game of the season?

Can John Brown’s Dundee stay up? (via www1.skysports.com)

By Marc Eadie – @Eadie84

While many Scottish eyes will be focused on Celtic’s second-leg visit to Turin to play Juventus in the Champions League on Wednesday night, there will be one or two casting an eye on two season-defining matches in the Scottish Premier league as Hearts host St Johnstone tonight before Dundee welcome St Mirren tomorrow. Hearts are currently second bottom, with a 15 point gap to bottom club Dundee, but is there still time for The Dee to claw back the deficit and fight for their SPL status to the very end?

Dundee will be hopeful that Hearts’ poor run continues – having lost their last five league games – knowing that if they can pull off a win themselves the following night the gap would be cut to 12 points with four games left to play before the split. It’s still a daunting task but when you are at the foot of the table all you can do is throw everything into each game to try to take as much as you can from it. And for Hearts, when you’re on such a dismal losing streak, the confidence and morale of the team can often reach such a low that relegation isn’t completely out of the question.

While Dens Park has only seen three wins for the home side all season, the Dundee fans must be optimistic after earning a hard-fought point against St Johnstone last week and out-playing Dundee United at times in the weekend’s derby.

The gap may just, and only just, be too much for Dundee to catch Hearts but a defeat for the Edinburgh side tonight and a win for Dundee tomorrow would certainly set a few alarm bells ringing around Tynecastle.

Can Dundee pull it off and avoid relegation? The next 48 hours may very well define the fate of the SPL’s bottom two clubs.

Will Hearts be dragged in to a relegation scrap, or will Dundee definitely be playing First Division football next season? Give us your thoughts @talkingbaws or comment below.