Exclusive:Hearts' Premiership title driver, the 44-point swing and the Celtic factor put to one side

Remarkable composure, nerve and focus have maintained Hearts’ position atop the Scottish Premiership for nearly six months. They moved two points clear of Celtic on 27 September last year and are now five ahead with nine games remaining. The next few weeks promise to be tense, fraught with anxiety, and full of drama.

You might expect the Riccarton dressing room to be quite an emotional place with history possibly just a few weeks away. It is 66 years since Hearts last won the Scottish league title. Yet, there is no sign of uneasiness among players or coaching staff. Topping the league for so long has enabled Hearts to gain comfort from the position without feeling complacent at any point. Had they just recently gone top earlier this month or last month, excitement might have taken over and caused a distraction.

Four fixtures remain until the Premiership splits and the Edinburgh club are quietly going about their business, just as they have done all season. They visit Kilmarnock on Saturday before hosting Dundee at Tynecastle Park seven days later. Then it’s Livingston away on 5 April, followed by Motherwell at home on 11 April, before the five post-split fixtures which will decide the destination of the title.

Champions Celtic are on 58 points after 29 matches, leaving them 17 points worse off than this time last year. After 29 rounds of the 2024/25 campaign, they sat 16 points clear of Rangers at the top of the table. For contrast, Hearts were in seventh place on 36 points 12 months ago. They are now leading the pack on 63 after gaining an extra 27 points compared to this stage of last season. Celtic’s drop-off and Hearts’ improvement combined have created a 44-point swing to leave the Tynecastle side in an enviable position for the run-in.

“I don't look beyond Kilmarnock just now. We are just taking every game as it comes. There are no little blocks of fixtures, it's just every game on its own,” says the Hearts head coach Derek McInnes, speaking exclusively to the Edinburgh News. That mindset took hold last autumn as Rangers floundered and Celtic’s weaknesses were exposed. Hearts seized their opportunity, but it would be churlish to put their exploits down to the malaise in Glasgow.

“Everybody should be proud of the fact we've been there for so long,” adds McInnes. “People might say Celtic haven't been as strong as they were in previous seasons, and I get that. You can't always depend on what the opposition do, though. You just need to concentrate on your own work and be pleased with it.

“The time for reflection is the end of the season. If we can reflect on a job well done, then that's what you want. With nine games to go, there are still a lot of points to play for. There are still a lot of points which can be lost. I think it would be foolish for us, anybody at Hearts, and certainly me and the players, to deviate too much from what we've been doing.

“We just concentrate on performance. I do think performance is the biggest driver in getting results. We have been dealing with adversity, both during games and during the week with injuries. These are all part of it. Things have not always been straightforward for us. There have been challenges over time. I'm hoping we can start to come out of that now. I couldn't be more pleased with what the players have given us. They have been first-class. We want to be saying that at the end of the season, but there is still work to be done.”

Kilmarnock are second-bottom of the Premiership, although they are a different proposition now to when Hearts won 3-0 at Rugby Park last October. A new management team of Neil McCann and Billy Dodds are striving to guide them clear of relegation.

“There has been huge improvement in what Kilmarnock have been giving recently. They will be trying to rein teams in above them. It's a tough game, particularly when they are at home,” explains McInnes. “They have looked more like the home team they need to be lately and we need to be ready for that. There are obvious difficulties when you go away to Kilmarnock and we've got to deal with that.

“Everybody is running out of games now to deal with what they need to deal with. Every game becomes more and more vital for so many teams. People can't lose sight of that. People might just look at the league table and think: 'If Hearts turn up, then it should be a win.' But there are all these different factors.

“Kilmarnock is a tough place to go and play. It has been for years. They kind of lost that a wee bit this season. Their home form wasn't good. If your home form isn't good then teams normally struggle. What Neil and Billy have done since they went in is brought a flavour of that back. I still speak to people at Kilmarnock and what they've done now is given themselves a brilliant chance of getting away from trouble.

“I think it was a tough fixture last time down there and I don't want to dilute the win. If you win 3-0 at Kilmarnock, then you have done a lot right in the game. We did a lot right in that last game. Where we are now, there has been an upturn in fortunes at Kilmarnock. We played them when they were in decent form. They were in the top six and in decent shape at the time.

“Last week against Falkirk [5-1 defeat] was probably a bit of shock to everybody because of the level of the score. I know they lost heavily against Rangers at Ibrox after going down to 10 men. If you take those two results out, their last little period is greatly improved.”