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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised observers appeared when news of the result and its impact for the top of the standings circulated. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the table and eight points ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, no one who has been following the progress of both squad this campaign will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs 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 campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the situation at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The defending title winners have so far lost 10 points from nine fixtures this season under Brendan Rodgers. The Celtic manager has developed the thousand-yard stare of a individual who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his deal ends, and awoke this morning to learn the answer is 246.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is there to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. Everything is under control, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the dreadful start to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his players could typically be expected to escape scrutiny for their own inability to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have introduced the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the SPL mix. In addition to investing £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at their home venue on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed celebrating each goal with the gusto of a person who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and filled his boots accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "It might be for those on the periphery. It might change opinions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we are delighted with what the lads have given us. In terms of skill, we appear 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, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.