He added: “When you trust your work, you are never afraid [of being sacked]”.
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A shell-shocked Chelsea offered little in response apart from a low Willian effort that whistled just wide of the far post and were three goals adrift with five minutes of the first half still to play.
“The two centre-backs were fantastic and kept [Diego] Costa quiet”.
“It was relevant for us because it helps us to win a big game but between winning a big game and winning the Premier League is a long way to go”, Wenger said. “We must reflect a lot to find very soon the right way”.
While Chelsea were unconvincing at the back, Conte was reluctant to place all of the blame on the defenders.
“I hope not, but it’s a knee problem at the same place he had previous year”, Wenger said. “Because we are a team”. We win as a team and we lose as a team.
ARSENAL 3, CHELSEA 0 – Chelsea’s defensive frailties were exposed.
“In the first half, we wanted to play this high pace, put them under pressure, and play at the very high collective connection with the speed of passing”, said Wenger, who was taking charge of his first match after celebrating 20 years at the club. Today it did not happen.
“We have to work hard but this is something normal”.
“We lost (Francis) Coquelin – and Granit Xhaka came on and straight away he was at the level of the game and that makes a big difference”. The pitch is the truth, it is the most important thing for us, not the words and not the paper. “We must change this.We know there are many difficulties, but if we understand this we are in a good position to recover and change the situation”.
The Gunners had not beaten Chelsea in the Premier League since October 2011, and had failed to score in their last six league meetings. If I was a director and I didn’t see good work [being done behind the scenes] but that the team was still winning, I’m not sure that’s good for the future. We got almost the ideal first half and that is not bad.
With nine goals in their first two home games, a new-look Anfield is becoming a fortress for Liverpool under Juergen Klopp.
But the game changing moment was Cahill’s clanger.
“I don’t like this”.
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By contrast, Chelsea coach Antonio Conte was left in no doubt about the size of the challenge he faces to rebuild his team, which previous year finished a lowly 10th in the Premier League after firing Mourinho in mid-season.
