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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which leaves the Jambos leading of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, no one who has been tracking the fortunes of either team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the process. Nine games into the present season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from their opening nine league games this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he informed reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific beginning to the season being endured by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could normally be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has entered the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled them to unearth hidden talents 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 their home venue on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed cheering each goal with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his team's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "It might be for those 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 are delighted with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem 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, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can claim.