Arsenal's statement 4-0 victory over Chelsea was incumbent of the two sides' pre-seasons so far. Whereas the Gunners started earlier, had their transfer business in shape and travelled to Germany one week before their opponents, Chelsea are still yet to hit full throttle.
Thomas Tuchel's side were dismantled by a rampant Arsenal side in Florida overnight and he has had serious questions asked over his side's preparation for the league season in two weeks. On the flip side, Mikel Arteta has his free-flowing team firing on all cylinders.
It sets an exciting opening to the league as the chasing pack behind Manchester City and Liverpool not only hope to secure Champions League football, but also to close the gap on the runaway leaders of the past five years.
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Speaking angrily after the match Tuchel, who's general mantra since coming to England has been to close the gap slowly and make the Blues a tougher team to beat, was honest but had a worrying message for Blues fans. And after this damaging pre-season loss his continued annoyance, which has been visible in America, gave a massive boost to Tottenham and Arsenal, who will both be breathing down Chelsea's neck in 2022/23.
"Given our last two weeks, our game today, we should not mention the two teams in front of us," admitted Tuchel. "We got absolutely beaten by a team that does not play Champions League football next season and finished behind us. But at the moment, they seem far ahead of us."
Not only have Arsenal strengthened in key areas with the signings of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksander Zinchenko, Antonio Conte's Spurs side have made six signings and are actively pursuing more targets. For now, Tuchel has to watch on in jealousy as his rivals get business across the line while Chelsea stumble to a conclusion in the Jules Kounde saga.
With Conte strengthening his squad but similarly struggling to offload squad players that are hindering wider transfer plans, Arsenal could find themselves in a good position comparatively heading into the new season. They finished just two points behind Spurs last season and five off Chelsea in third and look the best drilled so far in pre-season.
Chelsea and Spurs both have Champions League football to contend with next season as well and although Arteta will have to factor in Europa League matches, given the difficulties at Stamford Bridge and Tuchel's open message to his rivals, there is a real chance that both north London clubs can take advantage.
It has been five years since either Spurs or Arsenal finished above Chelsea, and the Gunners haven't achieved it themselves since 2016. That is the extent of the task in which they face if they are to overtake Tuchel's side next season, and pre-season is a notoriously uncertain way to decipher how a team might fare during a 38-match season, but if Tuchel had a choice of swapping his side's preparation with that of Conte and Arteta's, he probably would.
The Arsenal boss has been able to slowly mould his squad with a group of hungry young players and remove those who were understood to be were causing issues. Conte has also been given the means to exile his own peripheral squad players in a bid to focus on his main playing group.
This has meant that both north London clubs have played matches in their proposed systems ahead of the new season, whilst Tuchel fosters to the needs of underperforming attackers in a formation he would ideally like to move away from.
There is still time for this to change, and Chelsea still have the opportunity to overcome their squad issues and build a relationship on the pitch. However, Tuchel's warning for his own team is stark, and that should give confidence to Spurs and Arsenal who will feel it is their time to shine.
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