The French coach has yet to experience the diminishing effect of finishing the season behind one of Arsenal's close neighbours because no London club has outstripped them since 1995, when finishing 12th allowed Spurs, QPR, Wimbledon and Chelsea to secure higher places in the Premiership.
That year the champions were Blackburn Rovers, providing perhaps the only example of a club that simply bought their way to the Premiership title.
Abramovich clearly has the money to follow Jack Walker's example, though gathering expensive A-list players will not in itself produce a successful team. How much of his fortune is Abramovich prepared to invest and how long will he wait for a return on his investment?
Big-spending Leeds United thought they were about to break the Manchester United-Arsenal monopoly when they reached the Champions League semi-finals just two years ago. But now half that team have had to be sold - Harry Kewell the most recent.
Arsenal's record of good housekeeping has ensured unbroken residence at the top table of English football since 1919, although their proposed move from Highbury has generated a cash crisis worse than any other in their 117-year history.
Ken Bates, who sold out to Abramovich, will be delighted to learn that they're shifting uneasily in their leather armchairs at Highbury. It's niggled him for years that Arsenal have always been considered the superior club in London.
Initially, Abramovich is believed to have considered buying into Arsenal - but had second thoughts when the redevelopment complications were explained to him. How ironic, then, that Chelsea now have the chance to overhaul the aristocrats of London football.
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