Arsenal made a key stride in challenging for the Premier League on Monday night, in a game which many pundits thought The Gunners could have been overcomplacent about.
Six goals from six different scorers saw Mikel Arteta's side brush past Sheffield United, who only managed to rack-up 0.24 expected goals all game.
With five goals coming in the first half, and Martin Ødegaard's opener being tapped in after just five minutes, the game was over before there was ever a contest.
Arsenal had one effort hit the bar and another cleared off of the line before the Norwegian converted Declan Rice's cutback.
Sheffield United failed to register a shot on target and had only 19.3% of the possession.
This result cements what the future of both clubs will look like. The home side need to prepare for life in the Championship, while the visitors will continue to not let Liverpool or Manchester City get away from them in the table.
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Sheffield United and preparing for the Championship
Unsurprisingly, no team has ever amassed only 13 points after 27 games and managed to survive relegation.
There is not much point in pretending anymore for Chris Wilder's team. They need to start preparing for spending next season in the EFL and not the Premier League.
There is absolutely no guarantee of bouncing back at the first time of asking. Last season saw a really strong set of teams in Leicester City, Leeds United and Southampton suffer relegation. There is a solid chance that two of those three miss out on promotion back to the top flight this season.
Moreover, 15 players will be out of contract by the end of June. This list includes regular starters like Jayden Bogle, Oli McBurnie and Yasser Larouci. Loan signings that have provided crucial depth to an otherwise shallow squad like Mason Holgate and Ben Brereton Díaz will obviously return to their parent clubs as well.
Other personnel to be out of contract include long-time Blades and squad leaders Chris Basham and George Baldock. While these two haven't featured much on the pitch for United this season, replacing their integral presence in the dressing room will be very difficult for Wilder.
So no matter who's contract the club manages to renew, there will be a mass exodus from Bramall Lane in the summer.
The recruitment team at Sheffield United should start looking at ways of fixing an inevitable squad depth problem now, instead of waiting for the inevitable relegation to be mathematically confirmed in a month or so's time.
Then, hopefully, the squad will be better equipped for next season's Championship than it was for this season's Premier League.
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Arsenal and the importance of goal difference
While they are two points behind Liverpool and a point behind Manchester City still, Arsenal now have the superior goal difference out of the three title challengers.
Before Monday's game, they were level on goal difference with Liverpool.
The reality of playing Sheffield United as a top team is that it's an excellent opportunity to bolster goal difference against a side which are out of their depth at this level. Arsenal have taken that opportunity best so far this season, shipping 11 past The Blades in total.
City have only scored four and conceded one against them while Liverpool scored only two at Bramall Lane in December. The reverse fixture at Anfield will be on April 4th.
Additionally; the run-in of the three title contenders are equally as difficult. Arsenal, who's remaining opponents have averaged 38.72 points so far, have the easiest games left. Liverpool's have averaged only slightly more at 39.18 and City have (marginally) the most difficult games left. Their opponents have managed an average of 41.36 points so far. There isn't a team who's fixtures rule them out or make them favourites.
The title race is going to go down to the wire. Goal difference could very feasibly play a part in deciding the victor. Arsenal have given themselves that goal difference advantage by being clinical in this game.
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Sheffield United shouldn't let frustrations linger
Very worryingly for the general state of Sheffield United as a club is that many fans were happy to leave Bramall Lane within half an hour once they saw how the game was going to pan out.
Furthermore, every Gunners goal was received with a chorus of boos by the remaining home support.
This frustration translated into anger on the pitch. For example, captain Anel Ahmedhodzic needlessly threw Gabriel Martinelli to the ground in the build-up to Arsenal's fourth.
The incident was as petulant as it sounds, especially considering it achieved absolutely nothing defensively as Kai Havertz slotted the chance away anyway.
If The Blades want to save themselves from any more embarrassment then they need to keep a lid on losing it when things go wrong (which they always do at the moment).
Plus, they need to find a way of getting some positivity back into the club and back into the stands. Right now, fans turn up expecting to get battered. If that mindset continues to translate onto the pitch, as it did in this game, then promotion next season will be an uphill battle.
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Martinelli injury may open door for Trossard
In a game full of positives for Arsenal, there was one negative. Martinelli was taken off with a foot injury in the 64th minute.
The Brazilian has played in all but two of Arsenal's league games this season. He's contributed a solid six goals and four assists.
Speaking post-match on the injury, Arteta said: "He had a slight cut on his foot, and we have to wait and see how he is."
If Martinelli is to miss game time, then that leaves the way for Leandro Trossard to take the left-wing position and make it his own.
Trossard and Martinelli have been battling for the position all season, with the Belgian playing just over half as many minutes as Martinelli has. Despite this, Trossard has scored seven goals in the Premier League this season, one more than Martinelli.
An injury doubt to Martinelli will give Trossard precious minutes to show his manager that he should be Arsenal's primary left-winger going into the latter stages of the campaign.
