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Paris Saint-Germain once again showed Arsenal and the rest of Europe that they will set the standard in the Champions League this season by romping to a 4-2 victory over Manchester City on Wednesday night.
While Luis Enrique's team had to absorb a City onslaught in the second half, their mesmerising first-half display earned them the right to take their foot off the gas a little later in the clash. Sublime goals from Desire Doue, Ousmane Dembele and Vitinha set them on their way, allowing them to play a conservative possession game for much of the opening 45 minutes.
Crucially, however, PSG had a major advantage over City - an advantage they're likely to be able to exploit for the rest of the season, for the third year in a row.
Where City had to roll out their best players days after travelling to Anfield, PSG made nine changes from the side that beat Le Mans on the weekend.
Mikel Arteta can take a leaf out of Luis Enrique's rotation book
In each of the last two seasons, PSG haven't looked like the best team in Europe in the autumn. They're yet to finish in the top eight of the new League Phase format, as they struggle to reach their best level in the early part of the campaign.
Despite their impressive win over City on Wednesday, the same can be said of this season. The Citizens finished the game with 2.63 expected goals, almost all of which came in the second half. After PSG's first-half masterclass, they ran out of energy in the second period, while they currently sit sixth in Ligue 1.
Enrique fine-tunes his team and carefully manages his star players' workload throughout the season to make sure they're geared up to be firing on all cylinders in the run-in. This is how they've won the Champions League in the last two seasons.
It's been well documented just how few minutes some of their key players played in total last term. For context, Piero Hincapie, who would be recognised as a squad player by most Arsenal fans, played more minutes across all competitions last season than the following:
- Achraf Hakimi
- Joao Neves
- Marquinhos
- Desire Doue
- Ousmane Dembele
Meanwhile, Declan Rice played well over 1,000 minutes more than the likes of Bradley Barcola, Nuno Mendes and Khvicha Kvaratskhelia. Vitinha, PSG's 'ever-present' in the midfield, played 500 fewer minutes than the Englishman.
Of course, it would be naive to suggest that Arsenal can replicate this level of rotation. The gap in quality and economic power between the Gunners and the rest of the Premier League is not like the gap between PSG and the rest of Ligue 1.
PSG have an enormous talent advantage over their league, which means Enrique can roll out second-choice elevens for much of the domestic season and still win the title. Arsenal cannot do that.
However, Arteta still needs to learn to rotate more. Does Rice need to play 90 minutes against Lille in a League Phase match? Can Bukayo Saka start on the bench at home to Hull City? Can Cristhian Mosquera start taking some minutes off Ezri Konsa and Gabriel Magalhaes? Does anyone important need to play a minute in the Carabao Cup until the latter stages?
Minor bits of rotation here and there will make a major difference, and mean Arsenal don't look like they've burnt out come April. Naming the second choice attack against Lille on Tuesday was a good start. Arteta needs to continue rotating in this fashion.
The Gunners have spent the money to build the squad, and Arteta needs to make sure he uses it wisely. There are no excuses now.
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