Whatever transpires over the course of this afternoon, Hearts are guaranteed to be sitting pretty at the top of the Scottish Premiership at Christmas.
It is a notable landmark. The last time any non-Old Firm team was top of the league at this juncture of the season was Aberdeen all the way back in 1993.
Now rapidly closing in on the halfway stage of the campaign, just how big of a lead will Hearts carve out for themselves? And how much pressure will they be under from the chasing pack?
These are questions which should be answered over the course of what is sure to be another dramatic afternoon in this most chaotic of seasons.
They currently sit six points clear of a Celtic team mired in crisis, with Wilfried Nancy’s side facing Aberdeen in Glasgow today.
Hearts go into their own match against Rangers knowing that victory would move them 12 points clear of the Ibrox side, albeit having played a game more.
Cammy Devlin, Elton Kabangu and Blair Spittal share a joke in Hearts training
Stephen Kingsley rifles home his effort in Hearts’ recent win over Falkirk
Derek McInnes and his players have been adamant during the build-up that there is no pressure on them. But that is not strictly true. This will be the fourth time Hearts have faced either of the Old Firm teams this season. To their immense credit, they have won all three previous encounters.
They beat Rangers 2-0 at Ibrox in the dying embers of Russell Martin’s brief and bewildering reign. They have also done the double over Celtic, the most recent contest seeing Hearts prevail 2-1 in Glasgow a fortnight ago.
Yet, all three of those victories were achieved when predominantly viewed as the underdog. For the first time this season, Hearts now go into a game against a title rival expected to win.
It offers an intriguing dynamic. On the other side, Danny Rohl has stressed that the outcome of today’s match will not be decisive either way in the title race. He is correct. Such has been the bizarre and unpredictable nature of this season, it would be most unwise to make any bold or definitive proclamations this far out from the finish line.
Regardless of what happens at Tynecastle and Celtic Park today, the second half of the season is bound to throw up more twists and turns than a winding backstreet in Edinburgh’s old town.
This could be the most remarkable of seasons in that it may only take just over 80 points or so to actually win the league.
Celtic are lurching from one disaster to another under Nancy, and there is now serious doubt over whether the Frenchman will even be trusted to lead the club beyond the New Year.
Rohl’s impact at Rangers has been more positive. He arrives at Tynecastle still unbeaten in 11 matches in the league, grinding out results with what meagre resources have been made available to him.
The great unknown in all of this is how will Hearts’ nerve hold up down the stretch? Excellent over the first half of the season, they are now moving into unknown territory.
This will be the litmus test for Rohl and his Rangers side. If they can go to Tynecastle and get a result, and find a way of clinging on until January reinforcements arrive in the form of new players, it will fuel talk of a title tilt.
While Hearts celebrate an unlikely win at Celtic Park, the champions were left to contemplate defeat
Claudio Braga, one of the players of the season, finds the net in the win at Celtic Park
The very notion of that would have felt ludicrous when Rohl took over in October, at a stage when the club were sixth in the table and had won only one of their opening eight league matches.
For the most part, Rohl’s team have dined on lesser fare since his arrival. They are churning out wins, the most recent of which was a brutal 1-0 triumph over Hibs at Ibrox on Monday.
Regularly switching between a back three and a back four, the tactical dexterity of the the young German head coach has enabled his team to find different ways of winning matches.
Critics will note the reliance on scrappy victories, the absence of sustained dominance or free-flowing football. But the limitations of what Rohl is working with cannot be overstated.
He has been dealt a squad sorely lacking in quality and also with a lengthy injury list. He spoke on Friday of already having several new recruits lined up for the January window.
Yet Rohl continues to excel in the only currency that matters at Ibrox, one which his predecessor Martin never understood; winning matches.
After the win over Hibs on Monday night, Rohl said: ‘It is not always about playing tiki-taka and the nicest football. Sometimes it is about effort, effort, effort. And winning.’
This is the essence of what it takes to manage Rangers. The success of a manager does not hinge on playing beautiful football, but their ability to prevail amid the thunderous weight of expectation.
Stripped back to its most basic level, this is the fabric of the club. Fans do not crave sexy football, they crave winning. The fact Rohl is delivering that with depleted resources his testament to his ability as a coach.
In Gorgie this afternoon, they will face the league leaders at a venue that amplifies every frailty and exposes every weakness.
For all the progress, the question remains. Can this Rangers side claw their way back into the title reckoning, or will this prove to be a match which highlights the limits of a rebuild still in its infancy?
The fact we are even discussing the possibility of a three-way title race at this stage of the season is most welcome.
Scottish football has long been starved of this kind of jeopardy. It has been far too long since we have known such a challenge against the natural order and the duopoly of green and blue.
Danny Rohl faces a test at Tynecastle, where his side could put a dampener on the hosts
Hearts are the rebels thriving in the glorious anarchy of it all. The Old Firm’s grip has loosened, the throne could soon be vacant, and McInnes’ side are donning maroon robes and planning a new coronation.
Would it be too bold to suggest that victory this afternoon would make them title favourites? McInnes would no doubt be aghast at the very idea.
But Hearts can only play this down for so long. Rangers are desperately trying to cling on until January, whilst Celtic are a club eating themselves from the inside out.
An afternoon of great expectations awaits at Tynecastle. It will be a day when Hearts’ title ambitions start to crystallise, or Rohl’s Rangers rebuild gathers pace and strikes a telling blow.
