Is Hearts vs Celtic an early title decider?
Kai Watson 
Tony Bloom has been very forward and loud about how much he not only wants to split the Old Firm but wants Hearts to challenge for the league title in the coming years. I don’t even think with his supreme confidence levels that he would’ve expected Hearts to be in the position they’re in right now.
Given that Celtic suffered a surprise 2-0 defeat against Dundee at Dens Park on Sunday, Derek McInnes’ side now sit five points clear at the top of the table and are eleven points clear of their rivals Hibs who currently sit third.
The strong start to the season means Hearts are now the second favourite at UK betting sites to win the Scottish Premiership title this season.
Here at Free Bets, Kai Watson has taken a closer look at the upcoming clash between Hearts at Celtic and the impact it could have on the title race.
After a disappointing League Cup exit to St. Mirren on penalties, Hearts were 3-0 down against Motherwell at Tynecastle after 62 minutes. However, they mounted an incredible comeback and that kickstarted an excellent run of form, could that have a similar impact to when Hibs came back against Aberdeen then went on an incredible run last season?
Since that fixture, they have won five league games on the bounce. It wasn’t an easy run either, it included away trips to Livingston, Rangers and Kilmarnock alongside playing Falkirk at home and the Edinburgh Derby at Tynecastle.
Fans might have been wary of the away trip to Ibrox but, honestly, Hearts were pretty comfortable, even though the VAR review said the first goal should have been disallowed. They didn’t allow Rangers to get into any kind of rhythm and missed a few decent chances to go further in the lead.
It took an injury time winner to win the derby when centre back Craig Halkett sealed the victory and sent Tynecastle into hysteria, it’s been an incredible start to the season and with no League Cup/Europe, Hearts are in a great position right now.
Celtic, on the other hand, are really struggling so far this season, they only drew five and lost four in the entirety of last season and they’ve already drawn two and lost one in the eight matches so far. They’re normally free-scoring but have been toothless up top this season and have already failed to score in three matches this season which has contributed to two 0-0 draws against Rangers then Hibs and the 2-0 defeat to Dundee yesterday.
Fans have expressed concerns at how the board are conducting themselves when it comes to recruitment and, based off of the start of the season, it looks like their concerns are more than justified.
Celtic are averaging 1.38 goals per match (last season they averaged 2.94) whilst Hearts are averaging 2.38 currently (last season they averaged 1.37). I think Hearts will go into this game full of confidence and all the pressure is on Celtic to close the gap, if Hearts win though, do they become favourites for the title? After all, IF they win, they will have already beaten all of the top three from last season and will move eight points clear with no sign of slowing down.
However, a Celtic win would get them back on track and then it will be a real test for Derek McInnes side in terms of their bottle to remain at the top of the league.
How do you think this one will go?
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