Chelsea picked up their biggest Premier League victory of the Thomas Tuchel era on Saturday as they thrashed a hapless Norwich City 7-0 at Stamford Bridge.
It was a masterclass in attacking dominance and shone a light upon the startling gap in quality between the top of the league and the bottom, with Mason Mount scoring a hat-trick with the help of an overeager Tim Krul.
With Romelu Lukaku sidelined with an ankle injury, Chelsea fans may have been forgiven for thinking their side may lack a cutting edge in attack, but there was no need to threat.
Strikes from Mount, Callum Hudson-Odoi and Reece James put the Blues in complete control at the break but there was no let up in the second 45 minutes.
A sweet from Ben Chilwell and a Max Aarons own-goal made it 5-0 before Mount added two more, taking home his first match ball of his Chelsea career.
Daniel Farke just could not deal with Chelsea's attacking unit, one which consisted of all outfield players bar Thiago Silva and Trevoh Chalobah.
In total the Blues managed 13 shots on target, a new record for the club over the past six years.
Tuchel was delighted with his side's attacking prowess at Stamford Bridge too.
"Maybe we have found a bit of spirit to have higher ball wins, a higher frequency of attacks, touches in the box and more bodies around the box which sometimes makes things a bit easier," he told his post-match press conference.
While Mount will rightly grab the headlines, the brilliance of both Chilwell and James on either wing was a huge factor in the emphatic victory.
Both bombed forward effectively and both showed their prowess in front of goal with two excellent finishes, justifying Tuchel's decision to stick with a 3-4-2-1 formation amid pressure to change it up.
It was a match that also justified recent comments from former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal.
Now in charge of the Dutch national team again, Van Gaal took a journalist to task who insisted that playing with three centre-backs and wing-backs was overtly defensive.
“It is not at all,” Van Gaal said to the claim.
“You don’t understand. You are just a journalist. You have no vision of football. With 5-3-2 and 5-2-3, you can play great attacking football.
"Chelsea shows that every time, with different selections. I take my hat off to Mr Tuchel for that.”
The fact that Chilwell's strike made it 13 goals that the clubs wing-backs (Chilwell, James, Marcos Alonso and Cesar Azpilicueta) have contributed to this season only hammers home the point even harder.
