Celtic are in a title race with two poor teams. The least bad wins this.

Last night, Hearts came within minutes of dropping more points in the Premier League title race. That came, of course, after we had come within minutes of going out of the Scottish Cup at the weekend. It takes resilience, bottle and determination to get through games like those. Hearts deserve credit for that. Celtic deserve credit as well for having those same reserves.

There is a common thread running through the discussion around this title race at the moment. The assumption is that if Celtic are going to win the title, we must win every single game. But look at our two principal rivals and ask yourself this: are they going to win every single game?

The answer is no. They aren’t. None of the three sides will win every game.

This will not be an endurance test. Instead, it will come down to who slips up least. More than that, it may come down to who saves their slip-ups for the moments when they can best afford them.

Look at the fixture list and you’ll notice a couple of interesting quirks. After the split, we are in a strong position. We are at home to both of our title rivals in the five games that could define the season.

The Ibrox club must go to both Tynecastle and Celtic Park. Hearts must come to Celtic Park and go to Easter Road. If Aberdeen somehow force their way into the top six, the Ibrox club would have to go there as well. In other words, everything remains very much up in the air.

If this were a racehorse contest, there would be no thoroughbreds involved. I wrote the other day about Phar Lap. None of these teams is moving at lightning speed. The baggage we are carrying is baggage we loaded onto the animal ourselves. The same applies across the city.

Hearts have run a good race, but they are not operating at elite level. Nothing I’ve seen suggests they are ready to become a top-tier side just yet.

They have benefited from not playing in Europe, and that has been crucial. Even without that burden, they look like a team counting the days until the season ends. Rather than taking games one at a time, they seem to be staring ahead at the final day and whatever fate awaits them.

McInnes tried last night to shift some psychological weight onto both Glasgow clubs. He didn’t need to tell anyone at Celtic what that weight feels like. We’ve carried it for years.

Martin O’Neill has been here before, and so have many of the players. More importantly, this group has shown it can handle pressure. We’ve surged clear early and won titles comfortably. We’ve fallen behind and fought our way back. We know how to deal with difficult conditions.

Even so, this is not how anyone wants to see a title won. No one wants a race decided by who stumbles least on the way to the line.

If this were a horse race, it would be a donkey derby. Experience, however, still matters. The experience of the manager and the players makes me believe we will find a way over the finish line, even if we have to crawl there.

Hearts, meanwhile, have looked like a team carrying a heavy burden. That’s because they are.

To his credit, McInnes has tried to ease the pressure by talking about how much they are enjoying the experience and how there is no expectation on them. But now there is. Everyone feels it. No amount of deflection can change that.

You can see it in the players. You can feel it in the stands. And pressure brings anxiety. Anxiety brings hesitation. Crowds become restless. Players become cautious. The cycle feeds itself.

They have never been through this before. Some Hearts supporters may remember 1986, but that memory hardly comforts them. They remember how that ended. It slipped away then, and many of them can feel it slipping now.

The media likes to talk about Helicopter Sunday. I don’t give that much thought. What we didn’t know then, and what we know now, is that the darkest period in the Ibrox club’s history still lay ahead.

Like Hearts, they now carry their own psychological weight. They also know that Celtic will be very different next season. For them, this feels like their chance. Their support has never been patient when things start to slip.

So this title will be decided by an unusual combination of factors.

Any of the three teams could still win it. None of them will do it by being perfect. None has shown the consistency required for that level of dominance. Martin is performing minor miracles with this squad, but turning water into wine has its limits. That explains the anxiety around the Celtic support.

Had Hearts dropped points last night, they would have faced the real possibility of losing top spot by the end of this week. I’ve always believed that moment will be the critical turning point for them.

If they fall behind, their reaction will define their season.

It’s entirely possible that by the time the split arrives, they are no longer genuine contenders. That would change the whole dynamic of the final five games.

It’s also possible that the Ibrox club loses momentum and falls far enough back to drop out of contention before the split. And yes, the same risk applies to us. We could still reach the post-split fixtures hoping rather than expecting.

Right now, though, we hold the better hand. The fixtures favour us. We still have most of the strong cards.

But I’ve watched this board and this club play poor poker all season.

Between the three contenders, there will be at least one meltdown before the split. One of them will suffer a collapse.

I don’t believe all three will still be standing with a realistic chance when the final phase begins.