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HEARTS ON FIRE

Perhaps the only unexpected aspect of Hearts' victory over the Glasgow giants in the Scottish top flight was just how surprised people seemed when news of the result and its impact for the top of the table emerged. While this 3-1 win at their home ground, which puts the Jambos leading of the table and a significant margin clear of their rivals, was seismic in nature, nobody who has been following the fortunes of either squad this season will have been even remotely shocked by the final score.

Over the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have carved up the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to almost a joke in the meantime. Nine games into the current season it has become apparent that Hearts – who count Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and Ken Stott among their famous supporters – might just be prepared to strike while the Glasgow duo influence is freezing cold.

THE CHAMPIONS' SLUMP

Although a lot of the focus in the Scottish game has been on the disastrous season being suffered by the Ibrox club, the full-spectrum nightmare of the circumstances at their stadium has resulted in that Celtic's slightly less terminal decline has been able to worsen unnoticed. The reigning champions have so far dropped a considerable number from nine fixtures this term under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop consulting his Google calendar to see how many days are remaining until his deal expires, and awoke this day to discover the answer is 246.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure here," he told reporters following the loss, after they had questioned his desire for any kind of a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the standards that we're at. It's absolutely fine, it's still so early."

EDINBURGH DISRUPTOR

Considering the dreadful start to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his players could typically be expected to get away with their own failure to start strongly, but this year an Edinburgh disruptor has entered the mix. Despite being obliged to operate with a budget that is not just a tiny fraction of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, Hearts have introduced the money and knowledge of Tony Bloom to the SPL equation. In addition to putting in ten million pounds during the off-season, the Premier League figurehead has granted the club sole use of his top secret data-driven proprietary scouting player identification system.

In Oisin McEntee, Alexandros Kyziridis and Cláudio Braga it has allowed them to unearth unpolished gems from Walsall, the Slovak first division and the Norway's second division, among other lesser-known leagues, for the total price of a modest car. Spotted at Tynecastle on matchday wearing a Hearts scarf, the notoriously astute professional gambler could be observed cheering each score with the enthusiasm of a person who had likely noticed the bookies had greatly misjudged his side's chances of beating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

COACH'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a statement win," said the facial-haired team manager the head coach after his team's latest success, their eighth win in nine league matches. "Perhaps it is for others on the periphery. It might change perceptions. 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. In terms of skill, we appear in a strong position, and certainly physically we look in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, this is not a situation that this club is used to being in." Correct, the manager, it isn't. But the wonderful, analytics-backed truth is that for the initial occasion in ages, the Scottish game might actually have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.