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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' triumph over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised observers appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which leaves the Edinburgh side top of the table and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, nobody who has been tracking the progress of either squad this season will have been in the least shocked by the result.

Over the last four decades, the Glasgow duopoly of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish league between them, turning the beautiful game to almost a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' DECLINE

While a lot of the attention in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decay has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has developed the distant look of a individual who constantly checking his Google calendar to see how many time are remaining until his deal ends, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time here," he told reporters following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is there to try and reverse the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Given the horrific beginning to the season being experienced by Rangers, Rodgers and his players could typically be anticipated to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has joined the fray. In spite of being obliged to operate with a budget that isn't so much a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a minuscule amount in comparison, the Tynecastle outfit have added the money and expertise of Tony Bloom to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Premier League figurehead has provided Hearts sole use of his highly confidential data-driven Jamestown Analytics recruitment tool.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to discover unpolished gems from an English lower-league side, the Slovak first division and the Norwegian second tier, among other exotic footballing outposts, for the total price of a modest car. Seen at their home venue on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each goal with the enthusiasm of a person who had almost certainly realized the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's prospects of beating the struggling title holders, and filled his boots as a result.

MANAGER'S REACTION

"In my opinion it's a message-sending victory," said bearded Hearts gaffer Derek McInnes after his side's latest success, their eighth win in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But we must be realistic, we're really pleased with what the players have given us. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly in fitness we seem in a excellent shape, so we hope it persists. Naturally, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the glorious, data-driven truth is that for the first time in many years, the Scottish game might genuinely have a title race that somebody besides Celtic or Rangers can win.