Arsene Wenger believes that Arsenal beating Chelsea in the Community Shield could give the players the mental boost they need to win again in the Premier League.

Speaking ahead of the match, the boss spoke about the impact beating a team like Chelsea, even in a pre-season friendly, can have on the team’s mentality.

“For me, what is important is that Arsenal win games,” the manager said. “It can sometimes be a mental block for the players or the team when they do not win against certain teams. On that front it was good [to win the Community Shield].”

Saying this, just because we’ve beaten the Blues before recently, doesn’t mean it’ll be a walk in the park by any means on Saturday. Chelsea have only won one game this season against West Brom in their opening match, and they’ll be looking to stamp their authority on the league.

“What you expect from these kinds of games is [that they are] always high intensity, full commitment and of course you want to prepare for that and play with a full focus,” Wenger continued.

“For us it’s a big game. Let’s not forget it’s the start of the season and only five games have been played. We know our position at the end of the season will depend on how well we do in the big games.

“I do not think too much about where Chelsea stand in the league at the moment. I focus more on us performing well, with full power.”

Although we lost against Zagreb in the Champions League, in the Premier League we’ve managed to gradually claw our way back to winning ways after losing our first game. If we can win, or even draw, against Chelsea on Saturday, it’ll put us in a strong position.