It was Orlando, it was July and the joke about the Florida Cup being played out in the city of Disneyworld and Mickey Mouse is an obvious one.

But let’s be clear – for all that this was a pre-season kickabout – Arsenal already look a million miles ahead of Chelsea in the race for the magic kingdom of the top four.

As they jet across the Atlantic on the way home, Mikel Arteta could be forgiven for ordering a glass of wine or two. Thomas Tuchel may want to hit the recline button on his flat bed. Unfortunately, when he wakes up this will not have been a bad dream.

Arsenal scored four, Chelsea scored none. It could have been more. Those from the London’s north looked balanced, sharp and cohesive. Those from the west looked a rabble.

Fine first-half goals from a fizzing Gabriel Jesus and Martin Odegaard killed what rarely looked like a contest. Bukayo Saka’s second-half tap-in and Albert Sambi Lokonga’s header added some justice to the scoreline.

They will rightly be wary of false dawns at the Emirates, but this looks a focussed side which – if it can stay injury free – oozes creativity.

In £45m Jesus, a man who was consistently inconsistent at Manchester City, they appear to have found someone to convert the many chances they make.

On the left, Jesus’s former City team-mate Oleksandr Zinchenko, full of driving runs and shrewd interceptions, looked like he had been playing for the Gunners for years. He was, in fact, making his debut.

You get the impression that Tuchel has not been a big fan of Chelsea’s trip, which has seen them rattle through time zones and intense heat.

You also get the impression that he has not been a big fan of his side’s laborious performances. The German ripped into his players following their drab penalty shootout loss to Charlotte FC and was at it again here, furiously gesticulating from the bench.

Fitness may well have played a key role and Arsenal, with one more match under their belts, looked sharper. But when Tuchel needs to find answers with the clock ticking towards the start of the season. It seems obscene, given the amount of money Chelsea have spent on strikers, that they still need one. 

And yet here we are. The club’s new American owners in attendance, blameless in a situation that would be comical should it not be so grave, have every right to feel short-changed. It is very, very early days but for one night at least, Raheem Sterling did not have the same impact as Zinchenko in the 45 minutes they both spent on the field.

Bar the lack of aggression and hurls of abuse from the stands, this felt like a proper game and to the 63,811 who flocked here, it was. There is a lot of snobbery about taking the nation’s game to the US in the UK and there should not be. This is a largely knowledgeable, loyal and passionate fanbase. 

The vast majority of people present had taken flights and booked expensive hotel rooms to be here. On Saturday night, the Irish bars of downtown Orlando were packed with fans of both clubs, without a hint of trouble.