What a dour start to the season for Brendan Rodgers and his Celtic side.
You would think Celtic are the champions of Scotland, but they are far from showing it, as Hearts are the early leaders after eight Premiership matches.
On Sunday, Derek McInnes‘ men will welcome Celtic to Tynecastle knowing that three points will send them eight points clear – the Hoops have a Europa League game in between.
Yes, the season will only be nine games old, but it’s still an incredible position to be in, as McInnes and Martin O’Neill shared their thoughts.
Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty ImagesDerek McInnes on ‘annoying’ Celtic and Rangers
Not since 1985 has a team outside of Glasgow lifted Scottish football’s main crown, so you can understand those who doubt what Hearts can do.
Speaking on talkSPORT, McInnes tried to play down the title talk, and thinks that the likes of Celtic and Rangers will start to get ‘annoyed’ if they continue winning.
“For us? I’d be more qualified and feel more comfortable answering that type of question around Christmas and January,” said McInnes about winning the title.
“At the minute, the only thing that’s on is, we’re off to a strong start. Can we maintain it? There are so many people out there who are desperate for us to fail.
“I think guys like yourself, the media, and a lot of other people from outwith, would love to see a challenger to try and kind of break that monopoly. And I get that.
“But equally, every club we play against now are the club that’s desperate to stop us. Rangers and Celtic and everybody else. They’ll start to get a wee bit annoyed with us if we keep winning games, and I do think we’re annoying people at the minute, and hopefully we can keep doing that.”
O’Neill on Celtic-Hearts title talk
O’Neill told talkSPORT that he is ‘surprised’ that Hearts are sitting at the top of the tree, and his former side is struggling.
But despite there being a lot of noise around a possible title race of different sorts in Scotland, he also wanted to cool things down.
“Listen, we’re eight games into the season,” stated O’Neill. “He said it himself, Derek. So, I think there’s a fair distance to go.
“I am surprised, I must admit. but it’s a it’s great. It’s great for Scottish football. Can they sustain it to the end of the season? I don’t know.
“But Celtic’s results haven’t been terrific then, you know, and Rangers are well, Rangers are they’re a basket case at the moment. It’s maybe, I will say that, it’s maybe.”