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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome 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 league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Several matches into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While 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 circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the number is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "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 horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget 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 knowledge of a renowned businessman to the SPL mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover 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 total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.