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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which surprised observers seemed when news of the outcome and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both squad this campaign will have been in the least astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to something of a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the present campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to make their move while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While a lot of the attention in Scotland has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at their stadium has meant that the title holders' slightly less terminal decay has been able to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost a considerable number from nine league games this term under their manager. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this day to discover the answer is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had questioned his appetite for any kind of a title fight. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically 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 mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting recruitment tool.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a mid-range family saloon. Spotted at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a club colours, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his team's chances of beating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired Hearts gaffer the head coach after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is accustomed to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in many years, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that a team besides Celtic or Rangers can win.