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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback people appeared when reports of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and eight points clear of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish league between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a individual who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the season being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a war-chest that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at their home venue on matchday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each goal with the gusto of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, 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.