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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the outcome and its impact for the top of the table circulated. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the final score.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to worsen below the radar. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number 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 expires, and woke up this day to learn the answer is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in all my time here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the horrific beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his men could normally be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted the club exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the gusto of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his side's latest success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter perceptions. It might validate views that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely in fitness we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.