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….