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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. Although 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, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to find out how many time are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that a team other than the traditional powers can claim.