Chelsea’s Cahill feels Arsenal may have a shot at League title

While both men were keen to play down the importance of Mourinho’s run of 13 unbeaten games against Arsenal, Wenger conceded that the media’s focus on the statistic may have created “a bit of a psychological hurdle…in the heads of my players”.

“Listen, it hurts. It doesn’t matter if it’s a friendly”, he said.

“It’s disappointing to lose, of course, because it’s the first trophy of the season, but it’s gone now”.

The Chelsea captain said: “It was a different atmosphere in the dressing room afterwards”.

Speaking to Sky Sports News at the Premier League launch, the Chelsea boss said: “I don’t want to make a story of it. If you walk in the street you are not obliged to say hello or shake your hand with anyone”.

“We’ve not lost many at Wembley, so it could be a blessing in disguise and a wake-up call”. That’s the mentality I was brought up in.

Mourinho left Stamford Bridge under a cloud in 2007 little more than a year after landing successive titles but was lured back in 2013 and duly delivered the top domestic prize in May.

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. We’ve got the Premier League to concentrate on, so we go again.

Arsène Wenger has recommended that José Mourinho check the “real statistics” if he wants to scrutinise Arsenal’s transfer policy, citing his record of developing young players and adding that he does not think it worth listening to the Chelsea manager. All that and I think this current squad has what it takes to be unbeatable, especially with the emergence of Eden Hazard and newly aquired pure striker Radamel Falcao.

“It’s the medal for the loser, it’s a good memory for him“, the 52-year-old said of his decision to throw the medal 12 rows up into the stands on Sunday.

Chelsea won the title at a canter last season, finishing on 87 points, eight ahead of second-placed Manchester City. We still have another week of that before we get down to business. “In this moment we don’t have this problem and obviously I always felt the respect and he [Abramovich] knows that he has my respect and my pride to work for this club”. Smaller teams are getting some of the best players from some countries.

“If we do that we will have a good chance. It’s maybe the boost we needed and we go again for the season”.