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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be prepared to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told the media following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.