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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which taken aback people seemed when reports of the result and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Jambos leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the last four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a title fight. "So the motivation is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. Despite being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts sole use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's prospects of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and filled his boots accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. 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 given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and certainly physically 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." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, analytics-backed truth is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can win.