The 2025/26 Scottish Premiership title race has evolved into an epic, nail-biting three-way shootout.
With Hearts shockingly setting the pace, the pressure on Martin O’Neill’s Celtic is immense. Trailing by just two points with Rangers breathing down our necks, every fixture before the looming post-split run-in is a must-win cup final.
Amid this relentless tension, Peter Grant has raised a fascinating fixture theory: “I would like to know how many times Hearts have kicked off after Celtic or Rangers. Because I know the last two (they have lost), with Celtic, anyway.”
Grant heavily suspects that playing with the psychological burden of knowing your title rivals have already secured their results is actively derailing Hearts’ form.
To find out if his theory is actually right, 67 Hail Hail has taken a deep dive into the season’s data to reveal the truth.
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What did Peter Grant say?
Of course, this weekend, Celtic beat Motherwell on Saturday afternoon, and then in the later kick-off, Hearts were beaten at Kilmarnock.
Derek McInnes even mentioned that he would watch out for Celtic’s clash against Motherwell, so he and his players would have known the score by the time they kicked off.
That’s probably why Grant, on Premier Sports, was so eager to know whether Hearts do bottle it when Celtic or Rangers play before them.
Grant: “I would like to know how many times Hearts have kicked off after Celtic or Rangers. Because I know the last two (they have lost), with Celtic, anyway.”
Michael Stewart joked: “What, is it a conspiracy, Peter?”
Grant: “You know what I am saying, they have lost the two of them. They lost to Rangers, and then they lost to Killie. I would be interested to see that because I was involved in it with Tony Mowbray. The time with Rangers. We had to play on a Sunday all the time.
“We played one Saturday out of the full nine months we were there. It was torture because Rangers would play on the Saturday, and you already knew they had won.
“The difference is at 0-0. Late in the game. It’s your supporters who are all nervous on the Sunday if you haven’t scored. The players get much more nervous. I think it has a big part to play.
“I would be interested to see how many times Hearts have played last, and how many points they have won.”
And what are the actual results?
To find out if Grant’s theory holds up, 67 Hail Hail has analysed every Hearts fixture since the start of November where Celtic, Rangers, or both kicked off first (we didn’t include matches where they played one another).
We chose November as the starting point because that was exactly when the title race truly ignited, and the Jambos were busy making statement after statement on the pitch.
Now that Celtic and Rangers aren’t in Europe, they might just play before Hearts a few more times before the season ends, and the theme suggests Hearts will drop a lot more points.
- Saturday, 22nd November: Celtic win at St Mirren, and Rangers beat Livingston
- Sunday, 23rd November: Hearts lose away at Aberdeen
- Saturday, 10th January: Celtic defeat Dundee United 4-0
- Sunday, 11th January: Hearts win 1-0 at Dundee, and then Rangers beat Aberdeen later on in the day
- Sunday, 15th February: Celtic come from 2-0 down to beat Kilmarnock
- Later on in the day: Hearts lose 4-2 at Ibrox
- Saturday, 14th March: Celtic beat Motherwell
- Later on that evening: Hearts lose at Kilmarnock
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