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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when reports of the outcome and its consequences for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of Celtic, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the fortunes of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the last 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of Celtic and Rangers have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Hearts – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to make their move while the Old Firm iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S DECLINE

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly checking his schedule to find out how many days are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling 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."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the horrific start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could normally be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing £10m during the off-season, the Brighton owner has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential analytics-based Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be seen celebrating each goal with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his team's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and definitely in fitness we look in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that a team other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.