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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be ready to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from their opening nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, 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 mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had massively misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.