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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

Over the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered 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 fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are left until his contract expires, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively misjudged his side's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem 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, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.