Much has been made of Hearts' electric start to the season, as well as the relative struggles of dominant force Celtic. Brendan Rodgers' Celtic are two points back and also unbeaten, but have failed to fire at times in attack with goalless draws against Rangers and Hibs. Well, firstly, Hearts' impressive record is no fluke.
Read more: How do Hearts & Celtic compare statistically?
Villarreal star stands by La Liga decision to move Barcelona game to US – ‘I have no problem’
'A model of consistency' - the stats that earned Tarkowski new deal
James Tarkowski's new Everton deal is just reward for a player of model consistency - both in terms of availability and performance. Before sustaining a hamstring injury that caused him to miss the final five games of last season, the centre-back had made 111 consecutive Premier League appearances - the longest run of any outfield player at that time and the fourth-longest such run in the competition's history. When Tarkowski began this campaign in the heart of Everton's defence, he had perhaps not quite fully recovered from injury and his early outings were not quite as dominant as supporters had come to expect.
Read more: 'A model of consistency' - the stats that earned Tarkowski new deal
Youri Tielemans ruled out for five more weeks with calf injury
