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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the table circulated. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.