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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people appeared when news of the result and its impact for the top of the standings emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the table and a significant margin clear of Celtic, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Several matches into the present campaign it has become clear that Hearts – who number Stephen Hendry, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – could be ready to strike while the Old Firm iron is at its weakest.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that the title holders' comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have already dropped 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who constantly consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to learn the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a title fight. "So the motivation is present to attempt to reverse the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Given the horrific start to the campaign being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to roar out of the traps, but this year an capital city challenger has entered the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of Celtic's as a minuscule amount in comparison, Hearts have added the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership equation. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In an Irish defender, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the combined cost of a modest car. Seen at Tynecastle on Sunday sporting a Hearts scarf, the famously shrewd professional gambler could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's prospects of defeating the out-of-sorts champions, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a statement win," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent success, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. It might validate views that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. In terms of skill, we appear in a good place, and certainly in fitness we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." No, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, data-driven reality is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a title race that somebody other than the traditional powers can claim.