Steven Naismith collected his first-ever Premiership Manager of the Month award on Monday as the Heart of Midlothian head coach was rewarded for his team’s upturn in form. With three wins in as many league games in November – and with Hearts as the top flight’s only team to avoid dropping points last month – the former Scotland internationalist was something of a shoo-in to receive the award.

The MOTM award may be singular in nature but Naismith was quick to share the honour around, stressing that the achievement belonged to the coaching staff at Tynecastle Park as a collective.

“It probably gives you the understanding that we are on the right path,” Naismith told Sky Sports. “We had a tricky start to the season in terms of balancing European football, coming back into the league campaign, and meeting the demands of the club.

“We have then found a bit of consistency, which is really good. The award is a bit of recognition for everybody at the club. There are so many people behind the scenes who do so much day-to-day who probably don’t get their value appreciated by everybody, but internally we really appreciate them.”

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The award was worthy recognition for the team’s efforts in the league in November. Hearts finished the month with three wins in as many games and conceded a solitary goal – a Blair Spittal penalty towards the end of the 2-1 victory for Naismith’s men at Fir Park. But it is only when we dig into the detail of Hearts’ performances last month that we can see just how impressive the men in maroon were.

The graphic below details each top-flight team’s expected goals (xG) for and against for the month of November, giving us a good indication of the quality and quantity of chances created and conceded by each club during our sample period. As we can see, the likes of Dundee and Hibernian averaged more goals per game than Hearts – but when we examine each side’s non-penalty xG, only the Old Firm out-perform Naismith’s side in this regard. In short: Dundee and Hibs might have scored more goals, but Hearts created more high-quality chances.

The defence, however, is where this Hearts team’s strengths truly lie. Only Rangers matched Hearts’ record at the back during league matches in November, and the men in maroon were tighter at the back than Celtic were over the same period. Brendan Rodgers’ side had the lowest non-penalty xG against (0.28) of any top-flight side last month, but Hearts and Rangers weren’t far behind, each tied on 0.49. Every other team in the division had a non-penalty xG against greater than 1. This tells us that Hearts’ defensive output was head and shoulders above every team in the league outside of Glasgow, and that the players’ performances at the back were reaching Old Firm levels – not bad at all for a club that fancies itself as Scotland’s third force.

The most telling indicator of the team’s performance, however, comes when we examine the difference between the non-penalty xG for and against for each Premiership team. A positive figure indicates that a team have created more than they have conceded, while the reverse is true for a negative number. Hearts finished November with a non-penalty xG difference of +1.14 – a fairly comfortable figure, and one that was only bettered by Celtic and Rangers. But look how it compares to the rest of the league. Not only does no one else come close to matching the figure, but every team apart from Kilmarnock has a negative differential. Aside from the Old Firm and Killie, every single one of Hearts’ top-fight rivals was conceding better chances than they were creating. And Hearts’ xG differential isn’t just positive – it’s overwhelmingly so.

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Expected goals gives us an indication of a team’s overall performance, and in this instance the data suggests that Hearts were approaching Old Firm levels of dominance and control throughout the month of November while on Premiership duty. They comfortably created more and better quality chances than the opposition, and the challenge now is to sustain that level of performance during a difficult run of fixtures leading up to the winter break.

Naismith was a worthy winner of November’s Manager of the Month award – and if he can keep the team hitting similar heights in December, then the former Scotland internationalist might just need to clear out some more space on his mantelpiece.