Hearts earned a 2-1 victory over Rangers at Tynecastle, handing Rangers a first Scottish Premiership away defeat of 2025 and stretching the lead at the top to nine points before Celtic face Aberdeen later on Sunday. Youssef Chermiti struck deep into added time, yet Hearts stayed calm and protected a valuable result.
The win completed a league double over Rangers after a 2-0 success in September, giving Hearts consecutive Scottish Premiership victories against Rangers for the first time since April 1996. It was also Hearts’ first home triumph over Rangers in eight attempts, further underlining the scale of this performance.
Hearts’ strong campaign at Tynecastle continued, with Derek McInnes’ league leaders now unbeaten in 12 home league matches
this season. The club also became the first side, outside Rangers and Celtic, to record four straight top-flight wins against the two Old Firm teams since Dundee managed the same feat in 1985.
Rangers’ defeat followed a specific pattern in club history. This is only the fourth season in which Rangers’ first two Scottish Premiership losses have come against the same opponent. The previous occasions were 1936-37 against Hearts, 1990-91 versus Dundee United, and 2001-02 against Celtic, highlighting how rare this situation is.
Rangers believed an early breakthrough had arrived on 11 minutes when Bojan Miovski finished from close range, but a VAR review ruled the effort offside. Nicolas Raskin later headed over a useful chance, and Hearts then punished the wastefulness as Stuart Findley headed in Alexandros Kyziridis’ cross on 38 minutes before Lawrence Shankland fired past Jack Butland from a tight angle four minutes later.
After half-time, Shankland, the division’s leading scorer, almost added a third goal as Hearts continued to trouble Rangers on transitions. Rangers applied pressure as the match moved into stoppage time and Chermiti pulled one back in the fifth added minute, but Hearts managed the final stages well to bank another important three points.
Three points for Christmaspic.twitter.com/hxeEiaM11hHeart of Midlothian FC (@JamTarts) December 21, 2025
