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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. While this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the present season it has become apparent that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time at the club," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function 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 equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, 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 besides the traditional powers can win.