Hearts might have been the happiest team coming out of the Glasgow Derby at Ibrox this weekend. The result means that they are now six points clear of the Rangers. If Celtic win their game in hand, they would still be five adrift of Derek McInnes' side. 29 games into the league season, that is remarkable. There is now a real chance that the Edinburgh-based side could win the Premiership. Absolutely nobody would have predicted that coming into the campaign.

The Glasgow Derby was close, as most would have expected. Neither team has been great this season, and this was another example why.

Celtic went down by a couple of goals early, as the Rangers took a 2-0 lead at home. But then, the Ibrox side could not hold on to it, with Martin O'Neill's team mounting a comeback in the second half. Kieran Tierney halved the deficit and then Reo Hatate equalised in added time.

Both Celtic and the Rangers would have been desperate to win this game to get closer to Hearts. But they will now have to settle for a draw.

One surprise on the day was the absence of Kasper Schmeichel. There was always a good chance that Viljami Sinisalo could start, after keeping a clean sheet in mid-week in the win over VfB Stuttgart away in Germany in the Europa League.

That being said, Schmeichel's absence from the matchday squad itself is not something that anybody would have seen coming.

As it turns out, it was not a technical decision, but one that O'Neill was forced to make. According to talkSPORT, the Celtic manager said: 

“He was poorly this morning and we decided this was it.

“I thought Sinisalo did well on Thursday evening, so I just thought I’d leave it as that.

“That [Sinisalo's good performance] does [make it easier], but let me put it this way, Kasper has been fantastic in the two spells I’ve been here.

“I’m pretty pleased to have both of them.”

Schmeichel has faced a ton of criticism for some of his performances in recent times. Since picking up an injury while away on international duty in the second half of last season, the Danish legend has never looked the same.

To be fair, Schmeichel is 39 years old. At this point, any injury can prove to be career-altering. That might very well have been the case. Or, perhaps it is just a natural decline in form with time.

Whichever may be the case, based on recent displays, Schmeichel is not good enough to be starting for Celtic right now. The fans will be hoping that Sinisalo can take his place and perform, at least until the end of the season. In the summer, the Hoops must consider strengthening their ranks between the posts.

Roundtablesports is Free to join! You can post your own thoughts, comment on articles, and start conversations with our Roundtable Writers. Scroll up to the top of the page and click 'Join'.

Download the FREE Roundtable APP, and get even easier access to your favourite teams and news!