Sky Sports' Scottish Super Sunday: Celtic's opportunity, Rangers and Hearts jeopardy, what about Motherwell?

The broadcaster is leaning heavily on the Scottish Premiership title race this weekend, though - primarily because the FA Cup TV rights in England lie elsewhere.

Regardless, given the state of play in our main league as Hearts mount a serious and surprise challenge to the Old Firm duopoly, today’s card holds top billing. The five ties down south - the best of which is Arsenal v Wigan - don’t hold a candle to what’s on offer in the north.

At 2pm, Kilmarnock welcome Celtic to Ayrshire and then at 4.30pm, the top two in the league do battle as Rangers host Hearts. Both are live on Sky.

With 12 rounds of fixtures left to play for Hearts and Rangers in the Premiership (Celtic have a game in hand on them), every match here on in is going to hold significance. The state of play is this: Hearts are top on 57 points with a goal difference of +28, Rangers are second on 52 points (+24) and Celtic are third on 51 points (+21). The Jam Tarts hold the whip hand.

We’ll get to their clash with Rangers in a bit, but let’s talk about the defending champions first. As their interim manager Martin O’Neill freely admits, there is no margin for error now if they are to reclaim their crown. During O’Neill’s two spells in the hotseat this season, they have taken 28 points from a possible 30. Title-winning form. The damage has been done during Wilfried Nancy’s catastrophic month in charge and some off-colour results at the start of the season under Brendan Rodgers.

O’Neill is able to eke ugly wins out of this team, which bodes well for Celtic. Another is required against Kilmarnock, who have picked up since Neil McCann’s appointment last month as they look to beat the drop. O’Neill has been to Rugby Park once this season - but that was to face Auchinleck Talbot in the Scottish Cup. This is a step up in opponent.

Celtic have found Kilmarnock and their plastic pitch troublesome in the past. Even the swashbuckling sides of Rodgers and Ange Postecoglou came a cropper on it. And with direct rivals Rangers and Hearts taking each other on, at least one of them will drop points. This is a chance for Celtic to make up ground at the beginning of a hectic period. They face nine game across three competitions in 35 days - including two Old Firm matches.

Could Rangers be floored?

Then the cameras switch to Ibrox. Hearts can go eight points clear of Rangers if they can replicate their 2-0 win over them in Govan last September. Their opponents were then under the watch of Russell Martin. There can be no doubt they have improved under Danny Rohl, whose only league loss came at Tynecastle against Derek McInnes’ men. The German coach has done so well to coax this squad back into contention but as the midweek 1-1 draw at ten-man Motherwell showed, when Rangers conceded so late on despite numerical superiority, they are not the finished article.

Pre-match, Rohl tried to deflect some of the pressure on Hearts by saying that since he arrived at Ibrox, he has whittled the points gap between the two from double-digits to five. But because of the late collapse at Fir Park, no matter what Rangers do to Hearts this weekend, the capital club will wake up on Monday top of the league.

Hearts will still be without captain Lawrence Shankland and midfielder Cammy Devlin - both are injured - but they are buoyant after their own late show, beating Hibs 1-0 in the Edinburgh derby on Tuesday night thanks to Tomas Magnusson’s 88th-minute strike. The leaders may not be firing on all cylinders but like all champions tend to do, they are picking up wins while not at their very best.

Hearts are yet to lose against the Old Firm in five meetings this season. It is a remarkable record for a club that so long toiled to do any damage to the Glasgow pair. For so long chief executive Andrew McKinlay challenged the team to perform better against Celtic and Rangers. With the help of investor Tony Bloom’s player database and the nous of head coach McInnes, they are now doing so.

There is a third Premiership game on Sunday, although the Sky cameras won’t be in attendance.

It’s a shame because it involves the league’s best footballing team in Motherwell, who host managerless Aberdeen. Motherwell are fourth with a game in hand over Rangers and Hearts. On 44 points, they are outsiders in this title race. The goal they conceded to Rangers on Wednesday was their first they have shipped at Fir Park since October. Only Falkirk have won their this season.

A tall order awaits the visiting Dons, who return the favour on Wednesday night for their Scottish Cup fifth-round tie. That one is on the box (Premier Sports, if you are interested).

What a boost for our game that we can talk about the title race in such exciting, positive tones. Hearts may feel privately that if they beat Rangers again, they have put the Ibrox side to bed. Perhaps the neutral - and the TV men - will be pitching for the hosts so that it all gets really tight at the top.

Whatever the outcome of today’s games, Sky might want to keep that Super Sunday slot free for the Scottish Premiership again. This is a title race for the ages that merits top billing.