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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his schedule to see how many days are left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "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

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think 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. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm 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 look in a strong position, and definitely in fitness 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 is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.