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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of 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 punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop consulting his schedule to see how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to learn the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, 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 typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the fray. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"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 others on the outside looking in. 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 provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is used to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.