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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop checking his schedule to see how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this morning to learn the number is 246.

"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. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's latest victory, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a title race that a team besides the traditional powers can win.