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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the only surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over Celtic in the Scottish top flight was the extent to which taken aback observers appeared when news of the result and its impact for the summit of the table emerged. Although this convincing victory at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side top of the league and eight points ahead of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the progress of either team this season will have been in the least astonished by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the meantime. Several matches into the current campaign it has become apparent that Heart of Midlothian – who number celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and Ken Stott among their celebrity fans – might just be ready to strike while the Old Firm influence is at its weakest.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has meant that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The reigning champions have so far lost a considerable number from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has developed the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his schedule to find out how many days are left until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"I've never worked harder in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the loss, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering 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 roar out of the traps, but on this occasion an capital city challenger has joined the mix. Despite being obliged to function with a war-chest that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and expertise of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as putting in £10m during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts exclusive use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and Cláudio Braga 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 mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly underestimated his side's chances of beating the out-of-sorts champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S REACTION

"I don't think it's a statement win," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his team's latest victory, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for those on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It may confirm opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we are delighted with what the players have provided us. Technically, we appear in a good place, and certainly physically we seem in a good place, so we hope it persists. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.