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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, 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 tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change 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 given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.