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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was just how surprised observers seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos top of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already lost a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to see how many days are left until his contract expires, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's chances of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.