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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when news of the outcome and its impact for the summit of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of Celtic, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been following the progress of both team this season will have been in the least astonished by the result.

Over the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a joke in the process. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been able to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have already lost 10 points from their opening nine fixtures this season under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and woke up this day to learn the number is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he informed reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to try and flip the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the dreadful start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the fray. Despite being forced to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga it has enabled them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday sporting a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had likely realized the bookies had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets as a result.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his team's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for others on the periphery. It might change opinions. It may confirm views that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a excellent shape, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." No, Derek, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in ages, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.