The midweek matches in early April are often a defining moment in the Premier League season, but this year around it proved to be a round of confirmation, not revelation.
A familiarly stodgy performance at Old Trafford saw Manchester United remain stuck outside the top four; a familiarly weary final few minutes at Anfield saw Liverpool remain stuck just inside the Champions League places; and a gritty – perhaps lucky – performance from Antonio Conte's Chelsea kept the chasing pack at arm's length.
A fascinating tactical battle between the Blues and Manchester City at Stamford Bridge was settled by a fumbled penalty in favour of the champions-elect, dashing the hopes of Tottenham Hotspur fans in spite of their own heroic comeback away at Swansea City.
Elsewhere, Arsenal finally ended their winless streak thanks to Mesut Ozil's return to form, while another tactical masterclass from Marco Silva took Hull City out of the bottom three.
Here are three tactical lessons we learnt from the midweek action:
1) Guardiola must react quicker when plan A fails
Manchester City played some neat attacking football in London on Wednesday night, largely dominating a match that was settled by two moments of fortune that fell to Eden Hazard.
Pep Guardiola will no doubt be delighted with the control and intelligence of his side's overall display.
This was largely made possible by Fabian Delph, a superb box-to-box midfielder inexplicably overlooked throughout the season. Chelsea dropped deep enough to allow both Fernandinho and Delph as much time on the ball as they wished, which freed Conte's midfielders to track the more dangerous David Silva.
However, Delph's incisive forward passes to the Spaniard (and clever one-twos as he burst forward) picked through Chelsea's lines throughout the opening half.
Conte reacted at half-time by bringing Nemanja Matic onto the pitch, which immediately closed the gap between defence and midfield, nullifying City's narrow, Delph-focused attacks. It took Guardiola until the 79th minute to react.
He should have brought Raheem Sterling off the bench much sooner and instructed his players to start quickly switching the ball from flank to flank.
Instead, he kept Kevin de Bruyne (who tucked too far infield against such compact opponents) on the field until Sterling's introduction and watched as Chelsea's increasing nervousness went unexploited.
The City manager needs to react faster mid-match; his indecisiveness allowed Conte to win the tactical battle.
2) United's draws are not a psychological issue: Mourinho needs new players if he is to raise the tempo at Old Trafford
The most remarkable thing about United's performance against Everton on Tuesday was the infrequency of their forward movements. Jose Mourinho players rarely gamble, instead maintaining a solid base position, and consequently his teams rely heavily on individual moments of inspiration.
It is not enough simply to say that Jesse Lingard should move more in the number ten space, or that Marcus Rashford should be encouraged to make more late runs on the inside of the full-back.
Instead, these things must occur in unison, with risk-taking attackers shuffling across to cover one another to create complexly weaving patterns in the final third. In their current guise, United are not compressed enough when in possession and seem completely out of sync.
One major reason for this, highlighted prominently on Tuesday, is that Zlatan Ibrahimovic does not do enough to sew things together. Like Alexis Sanchez at Arsenal, United need an energetic forward who galvanises those around him.
Mourinho could also do with a versatile box-to-box midfielder (such as Marco Verratti). Until then, they will remain clumsy and incapable of challenging for honours.
3) Silva deserves a top job after his fourth formation in four matches bamboozles Middlesbrough
Only teams in the top six have conceded fewer goals than Middlesbrough this season and, before Wednesday, no side had put four past Boro in the league since April 2015.
But Hull managed to do so at the KCOM to extend their sequence to 16 points from a possible 18 at home under Silva. We should not underestimate the significance of these statistics.
Silva surprised everyone with a flat 4-4-2 formation, semi-mimicking Boro's model to play in a completely different system for the fourth match running. His strategy was to catch the opposition cold by attacking very quickly via direct balls towards their two powerful forwards in Abel Hernandez and Oumar Niasse.
This model, combined with less aggressive pressing than usual, prevented Boro from retreating into the safety of their defensive shell; Hull's second and third goals were the result of long vertical passes, something Steve Agnew's side are not used to defending (allowed to hold the vast majority of possession, most teams try to suffocate Boro by swarming the final third with short passes).
It was an ingenious move by Silva, and confirmation that he should be managing at a higher level.
Best of the Week – Mesut Ozil
Arsenal's first league win in nearly two months would not have been possible without Ozil, who scored his first goal since November and assisted the second to overcome a stubborn West Ham United at the Emirates.
The Germany international has had better games, but this felt like a significant moment for someone who has taken the brunt of the blame for Arsenal's dreadful run of form.
Just when the fans were beginning to worry, Ozil popped up to fire a cross-shot into the net, before ghosting wonderfully into the box and teeing up Theo Walcott ten minutes later.
Ozil played with confidence for the final half an hour, suggesting that he - and maybe Arsenal - are back on an upswing.
Worst of the Week – Klopp's game management
Liverpool continued their disappointing habit of dropping points against bottom-half clubs, thanks largely to their own panicky tactics in the final minutes.
Losing to AFC Bournemouth from a simple shot after a long throw into the penalty area is unforgivable at this level, suggesting that a psychological issue is undermining Jurgen Klopp's tactical instructions.
However, the German must also take blame.
Once again, he was unable to structure his team in such a way that the ball remained away from the Liverpool goal as the clock ticked down, and only used one substitution despite the Merseyside derby having been just four days before.
It was no surprise that tiredness, and thus sloppiness, increased towards the end of the game.
