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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems 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 their home venue on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, 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 claim.