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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can win.