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Hearts will be without record signing Eduardo Ageu for Saturday's visit to Rangers and the Brazilian midfielder may be a doubt for the Edinburgh derby against Hibernian at Tynecastle on 4 October.
The 23-year-old has picked up a hamstring problem, while defender Frankie Kent, 29, will also miss the Scottish Premiership trip to Ibrox after twisting his knee, which has had a scan.
Ageu made his debut as a second-half substitute at Livingston following a seven-figure transfer from Portuguese club Santa Clara late last month.
"He won't be part of anything for the next couple of games," head coach Derek McInnes said of Ageu.
"The only benefit for him and Frankie is that the games are a bit spread out for the next period.
"Disappointed for both lads. Ageu, we feel, brings something a bit different. He will still have time to influence the team but it won't be immediate.
"At this stage, we probably wouldn't rule him out of the Hibs game but we rule him out for Rangers and Falkirk."
Prior to the Edinburgh derby at Tynecastle next month, Falkirk will visit Hearts on 27 September.
On a brighter note, McInnes is excited about the prospect of having new German goalkeeper Alexander Schwolow in his squad to provide competition and cover for Zander Clark.
The Hearts head coach revealed 42-year-old Scotland keeper Craig Gordon is also knocking on the door for his first involvement since 3 May after recovering from a shoulder problem.
"Alexander's looked great coming in, he's added real strength," he said.
"Big Craig and him have worked really well while Zander's been away with the national team.
"Having Craig back is so important and we felt the need to bring in another goalkeeper just probably because we weren't really sure of Craig's injury when we first set out to sign Alexander.
"I'll need to have a conversation with Craig. He's certainly trained well over the last week to 10 days, but he's come from a long way back.
"He doesn't look like a goalkeeper at this minute who's struggling to find his way."
'Players have to feel confident' at Ibrox
Hearts travel to Glasgow level on points with Premiership leaders Celtic after taking 10 points from a possible 12. Rangers are yet to win in the league this term after four straight draws.
"It's only a strong start," McInnes said. "Like most teams, no team's going to be as good as they want to be at this stage, everybody's still finding their way.
"We've got to expect a tough game. We've got to expect that we're not going to get nothing from the game, unless we play well. Rangers, despite the difficult start, they've got good players. There's significant investment been put into the team.
"I'm confident. The players have got to feel confident. I expect us to be really competitive. I expect us to be good enough to get a result."
