It is surely too soon to frame Arsenal and Chelsea as a potential clash at the top of the table. In each of the last two seasons the first meeting between these two London rivals took on a framing of who might be contenders only for the Blues to spend the following weeks making any such assessment seem very premature. Whether or not this is a clash between the champions and one of their nearest challengers need not matter though.
This is a game as replete with storylines as any in the Premier League this season. From a grand rivalry that has swung as emphatically in Arsenal's favor lately as it did Chelsea in their prime, to the tight bond between the men in the dugouts via the transfer business that could prove to be a serious talent swing to West London or an almighty overpay, there is a lot to be found in the weeds of this weekend's games. In Mikel Arteta and Xabi Alonso, Arsenal and Chelsea field the gold-standard exemplars for rookie head coaches in the 2020s.
The two natives of San Sebastian, Spain -- who along with Liverpool boss Andoni Iraola began a lifetime in football on the concrete pitches of grassroots club Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea -- are among the few to have smashed what was beginning to seem like the triple or quadruple-glazed ceiling in a sport stratified by wage expenditure. Both now face different realities, even if for Arteta the surroundings have not changed. Two years ago at Bayer Leverkusen Xabi Alonso achieved the unimaginable, not just ending Bayern Munich's stranglehold on the Bundesliga, but doing so at a club defined by recent failures in Bayer Leverkusen.
Oh, and he won his silverware without losing a game domestically. Three hundred miles away, his friend Arteta was inspired. "First of all, the courage," the Arsenal manager said when asked what he had learned from watching Alonso's success from afar.
"Obviously, we've known each other for so long; we have experienced different countries, different moments, and just to go abroad and deliver what he has done, the same with Andoni as well, I think it's remarkable. It shows you that I think doing what you feel and how you feel it and being able to translate that to a club, to players, and ultimately achieve the goals that you want is possible, regardless of where you are born and where you're from." At the same time in the Premier League, Arteta was in the process of disturbing a dynasty with an equally prohibitive advantage. Manchester City had the best coach, the best players, the best facilities.
Should any of that ever be at risk of changing, ownership in Abu Dhabi has proven itself willing to invest heavily in pursuit of success. That it was the last vestiges of the grand old Liverpool side that first knocked Pep Guardiola off his perch may have somewhat quietened the hype over what Arsenal achieved. Like Leverkusen, however, this was a team with the fourth-biggest wage bill, the best predictor of finishing place, consistently there or thereabouts before finally breaking through.
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