There was a great sense of relief when the promise of Arsenal’s fantastic pre-season culminated in a fantastic win over Chelsea. I certainly was relieved when the whistle was finally blown, to confirm that Arsene Wenger had gained his first ever win over the Portugese bus conductor at his 14th attempt.
Wenger himself said after the game: “It’s always important because if you lose, people say ‘Chelsea have beaten you again’,”
“To get that hurdle out of the way was important for my team. We know that we can beat them and before we go into the Premier League, that is very important.
“It’s important that when you have to win and want to win, you win. We have seen some aspects in our team that I’m very pleased with.
“We defended the lead, didn’t want to concede and maybe over-protected our lead a little bit. But we had the best chances.
“It strengthens the belief that we do something right, that we share the same way to see the game. Overall I believe that that comes out of the team – that they are ready to fight for each other. Let’s hope we can keep that in the squad.”
Even Hector Bellerin, who had never seen an Arsenal win over Chelsea since his arrival at the Academy four years ago, felt the importance of continuing our winning run before the new campaign begins. “We knew it was going to be hard against the winners of the league,” the Spaniard said on Arsenal.com..
“We know that a Chelsea side is always physical and they have pace up front. We knew it would be difficult but the team responded well and we’re very happy.
“For a few years there have been a lot of games and we didn’t seem to get the victory against them. It’s a weight off our shoulders for the boss, for the fans, for the club in general. We’re very happy that we’ve started the season like this.
“I think pre-season, both in Asia and at the Emirates Cup, has been really good for the team. It’s been a great experience to finish the pre-season with a win at Wembley at Chelsea. I think that will be a big boost for the team.”
We all know Jose Mourinho was very upset at losing his hold over Le Prof and his actions after the game was designed to taking the focus away from his own team’s mediocre performance, but he just made himself look like a spoilt brat throwing his toys out of his pram.
Last season we started the season by beating Man City in the Community Shield, and it meant we were far more confident when facing them in the League, and if this has the same effect on Chelsea this time around, then Wenger won’t be the only one believing that we can beat Mourinho to the League title as well….
We had a great pre season….Now, let’s start the season very well.
We defeated Manu last season in the FA cup’ It’ll be nice to win them this season in the league.
The players now have that extra belief. Can’t wait to defeat Chelsea @ the emirates or Stamford bridge. I miss those times we always beat Chelsea. They started to dominate us from 2004 when Roman bought the club. It used to be Manu and Arsenal fighting for the league. Times has really change. Anyway, let’s start the season on a high…
Spot on….I think mourinho felt the sting of defeat & he realised his dominance over Le prof is nullified – but I sincerely think chelsea won’t be the only team to beat this season- Manure is very strong now & their defence is just like ours with both teams having top DMs (coquelin – schneiderlin) the battle for this season’s title will be tough as no team can be called clear favourites just yet
wait til united get pedro..im hearing murmurs of zlatan also…can u imagine that lol
luckily gelling a team takes time so this year they wont win the league in my mind
United are building a monster of team! If they get Pedro they would lose di maria so no biggy. I don’t think they will go for zlatan, they seem to have other plans on their mind. For us the transfer window has almost been a failure, why I say almost is cuz we managed to get cech. We excpect much more from this transfer window, hope Wenger realises the importance of a WC striker and DM. We are so close to turning into a European giant. Let’s make it happen wenger
It hurts doesn’t it? Hurts to see united building a great team???why are you fans always running from the truth? I hate united with all my heart, I have always hated them but have to accept that they are building a great team while we are not. We are happy with what we have and don’t forget united finished just below us. U get my point?now start bgiving all the thumb downs you want.hide from the truth
Well actually it doesn’t “hurt” me, not one bit, I don’t give a monkeys what any club other than AFC does in the window. And “building” may be an embellishment of the truth. £340M in 24 months is testament to bombing in the previous transfer windows and looking to patch over the mistakes. Their midfield looks solid but as one wag said on a Man U forum “it all looks good if LvG is planning on playing a 0-11-0 formation”. Their best player in the most important position probably about to go, no effective back-up to Rooney, RvP/AdM/RF gone, no closer to a settled back 4. Who out of all their “first team” acquisitions would you have cried for joy with if we had signed them? Morgan and Bastien? Maybe but Santi and Coquelin dumped? Or maybe you wanted them on the bench. And for people worried about Coq getting injured LvG will be concerned whether he will get two games in a row from BS. Depay looks tasty but don’t see the point of spending £25M to bench Alexis/Ox/Walcott.
Lets see how it looks on 1 September and then start cacking it if that response is felt to be necessary.
we need to start grooming a new younger manger…..and i don’t mean mr bould
Our new manager prospects are being groomed. Bergkamp, Vieira, Henry and bould are all learning the ropes alat various levels
bergkamp for me it has to be db
Bergkamp would be the best choice in a year or two. I hope it happens. He would bring new blood to the team and it would give us fans some believe that finally we have a manager who would not be affraid to spend.Wenger for me is history. Just waiting for the old man to call it a day. Bergkamp or Henry to lead us to glory. UCL glory!!!!
Even when the bait is revealed, the fish keep biting…
Sean! Dennis or Titti aren’t just gonna walk into the Arsenal job. At least I hope not.
Now Pep I wouldn’t mind.
He’ll be racking up the National Express regular traveller’s points in the UCL.
Chelsea play Fiorentina tomorrow in the states. This could be interesting.
Why could it be interesting???the only reason to be happy would be the fact that they would have to do a lot of travelling and would probably be tired and might drop points in their opener
I hope Cech doesn’t get overused. I would like to see a good rotation with Ospina not just in FA cup games for instance.
i m almost sure it will be the case.
Do keepers get overused?
Well I hope our world class players don’t get underused. In my opinion we only have 3 and we need all 3 fit and available in all the big games. Sure their understudies, rosicky, ospina and ramsey should all get lots of match time, but against tthe other teams in the top third, champions league and domestic semi-finals I want to see our world class players.
Hopefully there is still time to add 2 or 3 more? But it all seems to be going quiet on the departures of campbell, wellington and flamini and I think those 3 are occupying the positions where we would buy, CF, WINGER and DM.
Wellington is a player I really like and I rate him highly. We rather get rid of Campbell and flamini. Bring in a DM and striker
Why only 3? for me Alexis, Ozil, Cech, Boss are WC and many might not agree but for me Cazorla is also WC. he is playing really well and consistent through out last season.
Players who will be WC if continue there current form Belerin, OX, Akpom and Coq.
I wonder o…lolz
I’m pretty sure Jim that if he is fit and in form PC will play every PL game – unless we win the league in April – lol. I think that is the standard expectation for a PL No.1 GK. DO will get CC/FAC and maybe some UCL.
The rumor mill has quoted so much that I am hoping it is the quiet before a major, world class storm!!!
Are we still onn about Chelski and JM…
I agree @gunner, it’s getting boring. Can’t seem to go a whole day without mentioning them!
we just broke an ugly record. We just saw Jose s face after a defeat to us for the first time.
yeah, I for one am going to keep on talking about this for a while LOL
add to that …Cesc!
LOL
I am enjoying this win haha
What did i say, we are good enough to beat chelsea, we are good enough to win the league. What worries me every year is the injury crisis, when will it hit? for how long? will we recover in time to mount a serious title challenge?
If we can lessen our injury lay offs then the league is ours, plain and simple.
deluded if u think what we have right now will win the league.
wish i could laminate your comment onto a giant mickey mouse hand an smack u with it in few months.
60 plus games means we have not got enough depth dennis.
one bloody pre season game where john terry was subbed for victor moses….yeah the stakes were high for mourinho lol
Here we go with this ‘depth’ crap again. Please point out these teams with more depth than us.
Don’t even know what mentioning Terry and Moses has to do with anything, no one has changed their mind because of one preseason even if it is utter bullshit to claim Chelsea weren’t trying.
“Benzema is a great player”, he said. “Everyone would like to have him on their team, but the coach already has a squad and probably will not find another forward.” ~ Santi Cazorla
Benzema is injured so perfect time for arsenal to buy him
i keep on saying it.
Its not only finding a classy forward. It is also gettting him, the club and us to agree on a Price and wages. And seeing in the first place if the player is interested to move, and if so if here, and if the club is willling to let go, and if so if here.
A lot of statrs have to be alined for that to happen, I am not saying it doesnt, I am just saying it is “laborieux”.
Still stuck on Chelsea I see, getting old quickly.
We play West Ham for bigger stakes this weekend.
You’re wrong. The game against chelsea had MUCH bigger significance than a league game against west ham. (Not that the west ham game doesn’t matter, of course we want to start well.) The games that change seasons are not necessarily for three points in the league. When we lost to Birmingham in the Carling Cup, that disastrous game set us back for two seasons at least. It gave us a loser mentality that we’re only coming out of now.
Beating Chelsea is HUGE.
I would be happy with any of these strikers: Benzema, Lewandowski, Ibrahimovic, Cavani, Reus, Greizmann, Draxler
Higuain???? I’m not sure
DM: Busquets, Carvalho, Bender, Krychowiak
I’m not sure about these players who have come out of the rumor mill:
Llorente,
Cheryshev (,£15 millon winger)
Romagnoli (£25 millon defender)
Cheryshev is actually va very good winger. He’s a promising talent. Would be delighted if we sign him but I don’t think we need a winger. We have Theo,ox,Sanchez and welbeck. What we need is a benzema or higuain
Wellbeck is a winger? Or a CF?
Is he a footballer or Athlete?
So many questions Sean, so many..!
I know what he isn’t – your favourite player 🙂
No, but he is my favourite athlete;)
question should arsenal spent 45m+ on benz who will turn 28 this dec or spent that money on reus who is 26 & play him or sanchez/theo as striker
Cuatro [Reliable] | Karim Benzema is tired of the number of times he needed to convince new coaches at RM. He is NOT happy with that
Lyon have told Lacazette to either sign the contract extension or be sold. Player is on the list of Arsenal targets this summer. (L’Equipe)
so there are options + there is higuain as well hope wenger buys some one would prefer reus
Reus is going to end up at Madrid either this season or the next. We should go for lacazete or higuain. I know higuain comes at an expensive price but we can negotiate with Napoli. I’m sure we can get higuain for a fee of 45 mil. With 45 mil we can get either of these players: benzema, higuain, lacazete. It’s all about really wanting to sign a WC striker. If we really want it we def can sign one of these players.
Madridistas want to see Cristiano as striker, Isco as playmaker, Bale on the left & James on the right this season where does reus fit in + they want aguero/morata
What higuain has done in last few years to make you believe that he is WC striker?
Problem with Aresnal fans that we over rate other team players and under rate our own.
I understand we need WC striker but it has to be far better than Giroud and Walcott and not just at their level. For me best available option is Lewy. Dream is Suraez.
Bielik and Zelalem have been moved from the first-team page to the academy squad on . Reine-Adelaide’s profile added
No agreement between Arsenal & Palermo after the negotiations reached a dead end. Palermo will start looking for alternatives.
what goes around comes around they didn’t negotiate with us for dybala so STFU
Yes, and we are all pleased; now for the real thing-getting that gorilla off our backs! Let’s now go and win it for all those long suffering fans!!!!
Hopefully one of these will turn out 2b a messi or ranaldo….or a combination of both!!!
This is our season-on his 14th attempt Wenger triumphed over mourinho for the first time,Theo Walcott squad no.14 provided the killer pass that settled the contest.To compliment this the Gunners are pursuing their 14th league tittle.COYG