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HEARTS ON FIRE

Maybe the sole surprising element of Heart of Midlothian's victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish Premiership was the extent to which surprised people appeared when news of the result and its consequences for the top of the standings emerged. Although this 3-1 win at Tynecastle, which puts the Edinburgh side leading of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was earth-shattering in scale, nobody who has been tracking the fortunes of both team this campaign will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

For each of the past 40 seasons, the Glasgow duopoly of Celtic and Rangers have divided the Scottish league between them, reducing fitba to something of a punchline in the process. Nine games into the current campaign it has become apparent that Hearts – who count celebrated snooker player, Olympic champion and renowned actor among their celebrity fans – might just be prepared to make their move while the Glasgow duo iron is freezing cold.

CELTIC'S SLUMP

While much of the attention in Scotland has been on the disastrous season being endured by Rangers, the complete turmoil of the circumstances at Ibrox has resulted in that Celtic's comparatively less severe decline has been allowed to fester unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under their manager. The Celtic manager has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to find out how many time are left until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in all my time at the club," he told the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "Therefore the drive is present to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful beginning to the season being experienced by the other Glasgow side, Rodgers and his men could typically be anticipated to escape scrutiny for their own failure to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the mix. In spite of being obliged to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of Celtic's as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. In addition to investing ten million pounds during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his top secret analytics-based Jamestown Analytics player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, a Greek talent and a Brazilian prospect it has enabled 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 combined cost of a mid-range family saloon. Seen at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a club colours, the famously shrewd sports betting expert could be seen celebrating each score with the gusto of a man who had likely noticed the oddsmakers had massively misjudged his side's prospects of defeating the struggling title holders, and placed large bets as a result.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said the facial-haired team manager Derek McInnes after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It could alter opinions. It might validate opinions that there's a tightrope. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. Technically, we look in a good place, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so we hope it persists. Naturally, this is not a situation that the team is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it is not. But the wonderful, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in many years, Scottish football might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody other than Celtic or Rangers can claim.