COMMENT: Right now. At this point in the season. Manchester City are doing everything Jose Mourinho wants from his Chelsea team.
And this is not just on the pitch, but off it also.
City were the outstanding performers in this summer's transfer window. Nicolas Otamendi, Fabian Delph, Raheem Sterling and Kevin de Bruyne all arrive not to plug gaps, but to actually improve Manuel Pellegrini's first team.
Delph? Yes, he may be injured, but it's no coincidence that Fernandinho is playing his best football in a City shirt. The threat of losing his place to the former Aston Villa captain has kicked the Brazilian into action. It's the sort of competition Mourinho fears his Chelsea squad is lacking - and why Nemanja Matic, with no obvious midfield rival, has begun the campaign in such sluggish fashion.
The same can be argued over Sterling's arrival from Liverpool and how David Silva has dominated for City in these opening rounds. Add De Bruyne to the mix and the three of them will be bouncing off eachother, driving themselves on to stay in Pellegrini's plans.
At the back, where Mourinho scrambled on deadline day for Papy Djilobodji and Michael Hector, City had Otamendi locked away.
The Argentine is a great signing and arrived with Pellegrini declaring him the 'best centre-half in the La Liga'. That's a stretch, but Otamendi is built for the Premier League and can do for City what Nemanja Vidic did over eight years for Manchester United. That's the standard of player City have welcomed.
But he'll have to wait his turn, as Eliaquim Mangala justifies those who have championed his quality. We're seeing a different player this season. Not just defensively, but also in his distribution. You know the Frenchman's self-belief is rocketing when he's snapping angled 30-yard passes to feet - as he has in the opening weeks of the season.
What Mourinho would give to have Mangala, Otamendi and a rejuvenated Vincent Kompany available to him now. Djilobodji's arrival was so unplanned, the big Senegalese couldn't be included in Chelsea's Champions League squad. Indeed, it's been such a hash that Mourinho will enter Europe this season holding a reduced squad sheet with not enough players qualifying for needed positions. Incredible!
Even at the controversial game of loan management, City are outplaying Chelsea.
It seems City football chief Txiki Begiristain, who deserves great credit for this summer's success, has taken a leaf out of Chelsea's book.
After a season away at Lille, Marcos Lopes generated £8 million from his sale to Monaco last week. Meanwhile, Olivier Ntcham is already winning great praise for his impact at Genoa, where a permanent option exists. As is Seko Fofana with Bastia.
If neither youngster are deemed capable of making it at City, Begiristain will cash in. And if they can keep up their early form, it will be for a decent price - and help stave off UEFA's Financial Fair Play investigators.
Of course Chelsea, where Michael Emenalo has driven this strategy, have been the masters at this game. But City are no longer playing catch up.
To get £8 million out of Monaco for Lopes - who managed just the odd Capital One Cup appearance and was inside the final year of his contract - is great business by Begiristain. Particularly when you have a lad like Kelechi Iheanacho stepping in and making his Premier League debut - at 18 - just last week.
This is something Mourinho simply could not afford to do. To hand a top prospect his Premier League debut, at this stage in the campaign, when everyone are scrambling to get out the blocks? It's unheard of.
But four wins from four games and from a position of strength, Pellegrini could do it. It's almost mickey-taking. Even at this early stage in the season, City are thinking long-term and giving their young Nigerian his big break.
It's still very early into the season. But Mourinho has to be tearing his hair out. Where Chelsea failed this summer, City and Txiki succeeded.
It will be no mystery to Mourinho as to why City are already clear at the top of the table. If Roman Abramovich demands an early explanation, the Blues manager simply has to take out last season's blueprint. Where Chelsea have ignored it this summer, City matched it point by point.
And no-one knows this better than Jose Mourinho.