EPL: Arsenal can challenge for League title, feels Chelsea’s Gary Cahill

The goal arrived midway through the first half and to put into context Mourinho’s supremacy over Wenger in recent years, it was the first time Arsenal had scored against these opponents in 506 minutes of play. Still, after 13 failed attempts to defeat Mourinho, the result was welcome.

The Premier League champion was lacklustre for much of the game, and it badly missed the cutting edge routinely provided by Diego Costa, who was absent due to his troublesome hamstring.

“It’s good for confidence”, he said.

“Maybe I am wrong but I have the idea that less points will win the title this season“, the Portuguese added.

“I don’t like the word concern because I have other players”.

Chelsea dominated possession but struggled to turn that into clear-cut chances. And the defensive team won. Well done. Congratulations. “I was never sent to the stands, I was never punished for my behaviour”, Mourinho told talkSPORT.

Meanwhile, Mourinho has welcomed the English Football Association’s crackdown on abuse of match officials, despite his at times fractious relationship with football’s authorities.

The gooners defeated Chelsea by a lone goal today in Wembley.

“Apart from that, now starts the championship and we have to turn up with the needed performance and the demanded performance in every single game”, he said.

JF: “You shook the hands of all the Arsenal players after they were presented with the shield but you didn’t shake the hand of Arsene Wenger?” “I came on and gave my all, as per usual”.

Petr Cech made his Arsenal debut following a £10million move from Chelsea earlier this summer and was required to make an important stop from Oscar’s 68th minute free-kick.

Since February last year when Mourinho called Wenger “a specialist in failure”, and the Arsenal boss replying that his Chelsea counterpart was being “disrespectful”, the pair have had tensions mounting.

“I cannot reassure. The only thing I can reassure is that he is working well and hard and everybody around him is thinking about helping him“.

Arsenal defender Per Mertesacker believes Cech has already developed into a key player.

“You can see we have a great squad, a deep squad”.

And Walcott says that the vibe in the dressing room is one of wanting to compete on all fronts, with the retention of the FA Cup considered to have been a big achievement and a triumph they would like to experience again.

However, Community Shield winners don’t have the best recent record in terms of doubling up with a league success.

“It was a hard-fought match. That’s not a scoreline you would have thought of a while ago”.