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JAMBOS BLAZING

Maybe the sole surprising aspect of Hearts' victory over Celtic 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 circulated. Although this 3-1 win at their home ground, which leaves the Jambos top of the league and a significant margin ahead of their rivals, was seismic in scale, no one who has been tracking the progress of both squad this season will have been even remotely astonished by the result.

For each of the past four decades, the dominance of two Glasgow clubs of the Old Firm have divided the Scottish football between them, reducing fitba to something of a joke in the process. Several matches into the current season it has become clear that Heart of Midlothian – who number Stephen Hendry, Sir Chris Hoy and renowned actor 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 Scotland 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 the title holders' slightly less terminal decline has been allowed to fester below the radar. The defending title winners have already lost 10 points from nine league games this season under Brendan Rodgers. The team's boss has acquired the distant look of a man who can't stop checking his Google calendar to find out how many days are remaining until his contract expires, and woke up this morning to discover the number is over two hundred.

"No one has put in more effort in my entire tenure at the club," he informed the media following the defeat, after they had doubted his appetite for anything resembling a championship battle. "So the motivation is there to attempt to flip the levels that we're at. It's absolutely fine, there is plenty of time."

NEW CHALLENGER

Considering the dreadful beginning to the campaign being endured by the other Glasgow side, the Celtic boss and his men could typically be anticipated to get away with their own inability to start strongly, but this year an capital city challenger has joined the fray. In spite of being forced to function with a budget that isn't so much a small portion of their rivals' as a comparative budgetary baw-hair, the Tynecastle outfit have added the investment and knowledge of a renowned businessman to the Scottish Premiership mix. As well as investing £10m during the summer, the Brighton owner has granted Hearts sole use of his highly confidential analytics-based proprietary scouting player identification system.

In an Irish defender, Alexandros Kyziridis and a Brazilian prospect it has allowed them to unearth hidden talents 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. Spotted at their home venue on Sunday wearing a club colours, the notoriously astute sports betting expert could be observed celebrating each score with the enthusiasm of a man who had almost certainly noticed the oddsmakers had massively underestimated his side's chances of defeating the struggling champions, and placed large bets accordingly.

MANAGER'S RESPONSE

"I don't think it's a message-sending victory," said bearded team manager the head coach after his side's most recent victory, their eighth in nine outings. "Perhaps it is for others on the outside looking in. It could alter perceptions. It might validate opinions that there's a fine line. But let's not kid ourselves, we're really pleased with what the lads have provided us. In terms of skill, we look in a good place, and definitely physically we seem in a good place, so long may that continue. Of course, it's not a position that the team is used to being in." Correct, Derek, it isn't. But the glorious, analytics-backed reality is that for the first time in ages, the Scottish game might genuinely have a championship battle that somebody besides the traditional powers can win.