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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the top of the standings circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this campaign 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 league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the present campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While 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 situation at Ibrox has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has developed the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, 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 score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly underestimated his team'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 team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.