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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback people appeared when news of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his contract ends, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign 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 capital city challenger has entered the mix. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly realized the oddsmakers had greatly misjudged his team's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.