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When it comes to the Women's Super League, Chelsea are playing against themselves as much as any other side.
A 1-0 victory at Manchester United on Wednesday night secured the Blues' sixth successive WSL crown, and their first under new manager Sonia Bompastor.
Such regularity may have played a part in the rather muted celebrations at full-time - handshakes and hugs, rather than tears of joy.
There is also the Champions League, the holy grail for which Chelsea still search.
This title was secured three days after the Blues' attempts to win a first European title were ended, for the third successive season, by Barcelona - and, 8-2 on aggregate, more comprehensively than ever.
So how do Chelsea ensure this title win stands out among the six, and that this season - which could end in a domestic treble of WSL, League Cup and FA Cup - is somehow not categorised as a disappointment?
"We wanted to be unbeaten," Chelsea defender Lucy Bronze told Sky Sports, after scoring the winner at Leigh Sports Village.
"The fortunate thing for us this season is that we have stayed unbeaten so we knew there were still two things to play for. We knew before the game Arsenal had got beat and we knew what we needed, but we wanted to win, we wanted to be unbeaten all season.
"Although we have won the league tonight we have two games left and we want to win those too. We want to be unbeaten for the whole season."
Only in three previous completed seasons has the WSL been won by an unbeaten side - Arsenal in 2012, Manchester City in 2016 and Chelsea themselves in 2018.
But it has never been done over the current format of a 22-game season. If Chelsea avoid defeat against Tottenham next Sunday then at home to Liverpool on 10 May, they will have broken new ground.
Bompastor will have to deal with the repercussions of such a disappointing Champions League exit - but registering perhaps the most comprehensive WSL title of all time will go some way to making up for it.
Indeed, if Chelsea win their final two games, they will set a new WSL points record - beating their own tally of 58 in 2022-23. Victory in their remaining fixtures will make the Blues the first side to record 60 points in a campaign.
"I always look for perfection and the ideal," Bompastor told her post-match media conference at Leigh Sports Village.
"I told my players out of position and defensively I want to keep a clean sheet. I want to fight for each other. We spoke about how we managed the depth and how we needed to be compact, win the duels and win the second balls. It is all these details.
"I am never satisfied. Even when we win I am already focused on the treble and the other finals."
Bompastor has become the first manager to lead a side to the WSL title in their maiden season since Laura Harvey took Arsenal to the top of the inaugural league in 2011.
She admitted she had worried about the pressure when she made her much-vaunted move from Lyon to London, and filling the shoes of predecessor Emma Hayes, who she praised fulsomely after beating Man Utd.
"When you come to Chelsea everyone expects you to win the league," she said. "It was the same in Lyon but here the competition is higher. To be able to achieve it for six years in a row for Chelsea and in my first season, it is not easy.
"I heard some noise about the fact it is too easy for Chelsea but it is not! When you are able to be unbeaten, to beat Manchester City, Arsenal and Manchester United twice, I don't know how people can think that. It is unbelievable.
"Don't think it's easy. It's never easy. It's a great achievement and a lot of work every day. I don't let my players breathe.
"I want to thank Emma [Hayes]. I am sure she is really happy tonight with our title. She left the club in a great place to build on the legacy."
Chelsea have not always blown sides away this campaign - they have scored fewer goals than second-placed Arsenal, while no player has netted double figures in the league.
Wednesday night encapsulated their league campaign. United had more shots, a higher xG, and a very solid shout for a penalty before half-time when Millie Bright appeared to trip Grace Clinton. Chelsea keeper Hannah Hampton made five saves and was named player of the match.
But they find a way to win, and win, and win. And crucially, not lose.
"Coming to this club I always wanted to achieve trophies," Hampton told the BBC. "The fact that I can say that in the two seasons I have been here we have won the title both times it is surreal. It never gets old. As many times as we win it, it'll never get old."
Chelsea's season now has three games to run - the two league fixtures, then the FA Cup final against Manchester United, again, on 18 May.
To end it unbeaten domestically would be a remarkable achievement.
"It's what dreams are made of for Sonia Bompastor," former England defender Izzy Christiansen told Sky Sports. "Her staff, the new players and the existing players that have done this before. They know what it feels like. They don't care where they do it or how they do it as long as they do it."
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