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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.