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The pre-eminence of the Premier League was reiterated when three English clubs advanced to the last four of the Champions League, and the presence of those same three teams in this weekend's FA Cup semi-finals adds lustre to a competition that has been a fading glory in recent years.
This is one of the strongest FA Cup semi-final line-ups in the competition's proud history, contested by a quartet currently lying first, third, fourth and sixth in the Premier League table. Compared with the Champions League semi-finals, Everton are no substitute for Barcelona as the only team that can stop one of England's big four lifting the trophy, but winning the FA Cup is going to be little easier this season than triumphing in Europe's elite competition.
The pick of this weekend's semi-finals is Arsenal v Chelsea, as the two teams are closely matched on overall form (Chelsea being one place and six points ahead of the Gunners in the Premier League table) and have found much-improved form at the business end of the season. Arsene Wenger and Guus Hiddink have shown a commitment to attack and, with question marks against both defences, an entertaining game will be expected.
Chelsea's recent improvement has been tactical and psychological: the switch to 4-3-3 has given them a cutting edge, aided by the rehabilitation of Didier Drogba and the new-found confidence of the likes of Florent Malouda under Hiddink's leadership.
The turnaround in Arsenal's form has been more of a slow burner: in the early stages of their 18-match unbeaten run in the Premier League their progress went largely unnoticed by the press and only recently, with their strong riposte to Aston Villa's challenge for fourth place, has Wenger's faith in his young squad been taken seriously.
What has really ignited Arsenal is the return of key players from injury. At various times this season, Cesc Fabregas, Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott have been unavailable to Wenger. No other big-four team has had to cope with so much disruption to its first-choice line-up and Arsenal always had the potential for springtime improvement as long as they could stay in contention for silverware while they awaited the recovery of their best players.
The Premier League title is out of reach but, make no mistake, Arsenal are dangerous contenders in both the FA Cup and the Champions League. And they can still have a say in who wins the title race, as their remaining six league games include clashes with Liverpool, Manchester United and Chelsea.
Fabregas' influence has been particularly striking in the four games since his return to the team a fortnight ago, with Arsenal winning three and drawing one (the 1-1 at Villarreal that set up their progress to the Champions League semis). The Gunners have scored 10 goals in those four games, with Fabregas credited with the assist for six of them.
The increased goals tally is a significant improvement on Arsenal's scoring form during Fabregas' three-month absence. Even though they were beaten only once in 14 Premier League and Champions League games in that period, they scored only 19 goals at a low average of 1.36 goals per game and four of their seven failures to win were goalless draws. Contrast that with a record of having scored in 60 of Fabregas' 64 starts in the Premier League and Champions League since the start of last season.
Just imagine where Arsenal might be now if Wenger could have put out Fabregas, Adebayor and Walcott more often in his starting line-up. Since the start of last season, that trio have started together only 15 times in the Premier League and Champions League but Arsenal have lost just once with them on board, winning seven and drawing seven.
With Walcott relatively new to the first-choice starting line-up, another way to gauge Arsenal's potency is to look at their figures when Fabregas and Adebayor start together. In the Premier League and Champions League, since the start of last season, Arsenal's record in that scenario is won 28, drew 15, lost five (three of the defeats being against other members of the big four).
In the Premier League that boils down to 23 wins, 12 draws and four defeats in little more than a season of games (39) with 81 points gained at an average of 2.08 points per game. If they could have achieved that average throughout this season, they would be snapping at the heels of Liverpool and Chelsea and would be still in the title race.
There is a key stat against Arsenal: in the past decade, 17 of the 20 teams that have progressed to the FA Cup final were higher in the league than their semi-final opponents, which points to Chelsea. Yet their improvement appears to have come at the right time, and with their best line-up they are closer to Chelsea than the odds suggest.
Arsenal have lost only two out of nine big-four league clashes since the start of last season, whereas Chelsea have lost six out of 11 and won only two, and the Gunners rate the handicap pick in tonight's semi-final.
Shortlist
West Ham, Hull, Coventry, Brighton, Millwall, Hereford, Northampton, Peterborough, Huddersfield, Norwich, Gijon.
Best bets
$200 West Ham (handicap HAD, Sat), Hull (handicap HAD, Sat), Coventry (handicap HAD, Sat), Brighton (HW, Sat), Millwall (AW, Sat), Gijon (handicap HAD, Sun). Last week: one winning bet out of three.
Form fact
Arsenal have emerged victorious from all four FA Cup meetings with Chelsea under Arsene Wenger. The last time they were knocked out by Chelsea was in 1947, with Arsenal winning seven ties since then.
