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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been following the fortunes of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from nine league games this term under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. In spite of being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth win in nine outings. "It might be for those on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that this club is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.