Celtic needed a 92nd minute winner from Daizen Maeda to beat Motherwell 3-2 on Sunday as Rangers dropped more points in a 1-1 draw at lowly Falkirk.
Victory for the Scottish champions cut Hearts' lead at the top of the table to two points, while Rangers are 11 points off the top down in eighth.
Motherwell, who began the day unbeaten in the league, were on course for a rare win at Celtic Park until 21 minutes from time.
Kelechi Iheanacho's penalty had given Brendan Rodgers' men an early lead.
Scoring goals has been Celtic's problem during a troubled start to the campaign, but they conceded for the first time at home in the league when Apostolos Stamatelopoulos stooped to head in just before half-time.
Stamatelopoulos' penalty early in the second period put the visitors on course for their first win at Parkhead in over a decade.
Motherwell, though, were architects of their own downfall when goalkeeper Calum Ward passed straight to Benjamin Nygren, who slammed home the equaliser.
Maeda then met Michel-Ange Balikwisha's cross with a diving header to snatch all three points and open up a nine-point lead on Glasgow rivals Rangers.
"We showed a real strong mentality today and real competitive grit," said Rodgers.
"Even though we're not at our levels we've shown in the past, you still have to win."
Russell Martin may not be in charge at Ibrox when Rangers return from a two-week international break after just one win from his first seven league games in charge.
"It's really difficult when you ask this question, because it's not in my control," said Martin on his future.
"What I can control is we need to win more football matches and we need to work harder to do that."
Bojan Miovski had put Rangers in front at newly-promoted Falkirk. But the visitors were lucky to escape with a point in the end.
Henry Cartwright smashed in an equaliser 17 minutes from time and only a Jack Butland save from Brian Graham denied Falkirk a first home win back in the top flight.
Aberdeen remain bottom of the table but got their first win and goals of the season in a 4-0 rout of Dundee.