Martin O’Neill believes Hearts are capable of winning the Scottish Premiership before the end of Tony Bloom’s ambitious ten-year timeframe.

Bloom outlined his desire to break the dominance of Celtic and Rangers after becoming involved at Tynecastle last summer.

The prediction was understandably met with plenty of scepticism at the time. No club outside Glasgow’s two biggest sides has been crowned Scottish champion since Aberdeen in 1985.

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However, Hearts came remarkably close to proving Bloom correct during his first season.

The Edinburgh side took the title race to its final day and were only minutes away from lifting the trophy before Celtic produced a dramatic late comeback at Parkhead.

Callum Osmand eventually completed a 3-1 victory for the Hoops, securing the league title and leaving Hearts devastated.

O’Neill, though, believes they may not need that long.

Speaking before Sunday’s meeting at Celtic Park, the Hoops manager said: [SunSport]

“I think they’re capable of winning the league even before that.

“If you’re looking at it from a neutral viewpoint I think it’s only a great thing for Scottish football, that the Old Firm is being challenged in a big, big way, rightly so.

“So it should be as well. Hearts have taken on that and I think they’re here to stay.

“I think their recruitment is really good.

“I think that what they’ve done has put pressure on Celtic and Rangers.

“They’re a definite challenge.

“They kept going all last season.

“That was a big, big effort.

“They kept going and they took it right to the last couple of minutes.

“Are they capable of doing it?

“Yeah. I think that they’ve got a certain system in place at this minute, which has been used down at Brighton.

“They used it there and they’re scouring the European scene for these things.

“I thought in the opening game of the season against Aberdeen there might have been just a bit of a hangover from last season.

“But I think they’ve put that to bed and I think they’ve come roaring back.”

Hearts initially appeared as though they might suffer a hangover after their painful conclusion to last season.

However, they have recovered and once again look capable of competing towards the top of the division.

The Hoops returned from the international break with an encouraging 2-0 victory over Motherwell, but their defensive vulnerabilities were exposed again during Thursday night’s 4-1 defeat to Benfica.

Celtic were too open in Lisbon and repeatedly contributed to their downfall through avoidable mistakes.

Hearts possess enough quality to punish a repeat of those errors at Parkhead.

O’Neill’s side cannot afford to approach the game believing their domestic position makes victory inevitable. Last season demonstrated that Hearts are capable of taking Celtic to the brink, while their recovery this term suggests that run was not necessarily a one-off.

Celtic remain the team everyone else must catch, but they will need to be considerably more organised than they were in Portugal.

Sunday’s match could provide an important early indication of whether Hearts are ready to mount another sustained title challenge and whether Celtic have properly learned from their latest European setback.