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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how taken aback observers seemed when news of the result and its consequences for the summit of the standings circulated. Although this convincing victory at their home ground, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this campaign will have been in the least shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning fitba to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who count Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

While much of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the absolute bin-fire being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the situation at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from their opening nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the thousand-yard stare of a man who constantly consulting his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to try and flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a war-chest that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. As well as putting in ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovakian top flight and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday sporting a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the gusto of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had greatly underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for those on the outside looking in. It might change perceptions. It may confirm opinions that there's a tightrope. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the lads have given us. Technically, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that this club is accustomed to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.