Manchester City have led the way in terms of how to run a football club for over a decade and are getting the rewards, and some, with their modern day success. As Chelsea prepare to travel to the Etihad Stadium on Sunday as massive underdogs for the game, it is evidence of where the Blues have gone wrong.
Since Chelsea's last title in 2017, City are closing in on their fifth. In 2012 the gap between them was 3-0 in Chelsea's favour and it is one win from being 6-5 to the Mancunians. One club has been run like a ruthless, efficient machine working its way to total dominance, the other has not.
It is worth noting, at this point, that there is a conversation to be had over the financial backing of the club by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan and the effect it has had on the competitiveness of the Premier League.
READ MORE: Mauricio Pochettino's five-man Chelsea striker shortlist 'revealed' with £517m question answered
At Chelsea, Roman Abramovich bankrolled many of the mistakes that were made and wrote off the £1.5bn bottom line once he listed the club for sale last year. The mistakes under the Russian hurt Chelsea on the field but in a financial point they bore very little tangible effect.
The same can certainly be said for City now. If a player doesn't work then they are able to sell them without a second thought. Arsenal cannot do the same, neither can Tottenham. It's a debate that can go on and will rage ferociously for some time.
What this doesn't effect is how well they have done on the field. With deep pockets and effectively riskless or not, City have made a decade's worth of good choices. Their managerial calls have been right, every coach between 2012 and now has won the league.
Chelsea, in the same period, have had nine head coaches - not counting interim appointments - and only two of them have lifted the league trophy. City hadn't qualified for the Champions League before 2010 but are set to cut the deficit to Chelsea in half on that count, unless Inter Milan can do the thoroughly improbable in Istanbul next month.
Transitions happen, that is to be said. Manchester City haven't always been this juggernaut but they have now been consistently good for over 10 years. During that decade there have been temporary drop-offs or recoveries for the other top six competitors.
Since 2013, Manchester United haven't made a serious push for more than one year in a row. Arsenal have come back this year unexpectedly and Liverpool are struggling this term, despite a return to the top table. Chelsea had been there or thereabouts but now face a rebuild that has been coming for some time.
There is little excuse to be in this position, though. If City can be heavily criticised for spending money and doing well then Chelsea's outlay and relative success is only embarrassing. Since 2018 no team has had a larger net spend on transfers than the Blues.
Although net spend is not the be all and end all, it does demonstrate the sheer volume of wastefullness. Their £622.5m is nearly triple Manchester City's total. This comes with the £100m sale of Eden Hazard, too. Manchester United have been equally as lax with less to show for it.
Chelsea have, at least, won the Champions League, been clear in the top four for all but one year - this one - and have reached numerous cup finals. Only Liverpool and City can match their achievements but for the level of spending - the Reds at £246.9m net - it is worthwhile asking just how sustainable the unsustainability was.
Frankly, there is no such thing in modern football. Once more and more teams moved to data-led models and longer-term, director of football run approaches, their archaic ways were blown out of the water. City had prepared for Guardiola's arrival nearly six years before he eventually ventured onto these shores.
City didn't panic when he fell short in his first season. City moved on overpaid players that weren't to his liking and bent the club to his will. To some extent the club is Guardiola and vice versa, the same happened at Anfield with Jurgen Klopp. The identity is the manager and solving the drops in performance was a task of getting them the correct tools, not replacing the workman.
Chelsea continued to do the opposite and they have learnt their lesson this season, if previous years hadn't made them realise sooner just how far off they had fallen. These things start from the top and Abramovich never implemented a system that could match the levels of the rivals.
"I think they are the best team in the world. Is it good for English football? Yeah, why not. You have to push the standards of the league and others have to react to that," said Lampard when asked if the levels set were healthy for the competition.
"We have this incredible brand here where the league improves year-on-year as far as I see the competitive nature of staying in the league, making the top four, and Manchester City have set the standards.
"The rest of the league have to try to aspire to be that. It's not easy because they've done things very clinically in a really good way over a number of years. If we all take away our rivalry feelings, if you are a rival of Manchester City, you can't be anything but impressed by the nature of their game, how they play, especially watching them the other night [against Real Madrid]. It was fantastic to watch. I don't think it's a bad thing at all."
Chelsea were, for so long, the barometer for standards and setting the record. Modern football moved away and Chelsea didn't move with the times. The change to get back to the top isn't impossible, however, and Lampard isn't keen to be too direct with copying City.
"I think it's hard to call them a direct barometer because when you say set standards, that's a casual look at it," he explained. "Standards have to start at the beginning. For me standards are every player that is in that squad is pushing to get into the team, the players know that they if they don't have intensity and don't run, the next man will come in and do it.
"That's something to be worked on in terms of recruitment and how you build a squad and how you build a mentality. If that's the barometer, there's a lot of work to do for us here to try and get to that."
It is a clear message to the owners, who have had a terrible first year in the game. What City have shown, though, is that making the right decisions is more important than spending the most money, even if the latter does help to achieve things on a greater scale and with less risk.
READ NEXT:
Napoli find possible replacement for key man as Chelsea told Osimhen and Pulisic transfer truth
Chelsea without seven players for Man City trip as Frank Lampard confirms injury news
Thierry Henry sends Mykhailo Mudryk transfer warning as Chelsea plot 'crazy' £161m double swoop
First Mauricio Pochettino transfer confirmed as Chelsea beat Man United to £17.6m wonderkid
Todd Boehly has new money-saving Chelsea transfer plan after $421m Roman Abramovich failure
