Wenger: We had to get Chelsea hoodoo out of our system

Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger said ending his team’s poor recent run against Chelsea was their motivation ahead of a “near perfect” performance.

The Gunners had not even scored against Chelsea, let alone beaten them, in the last seven league meetings between the sides.

But they set about the Blues from the off and goals from Alexis Sanchez, Theo Walcott and Mesut Ozil gave them an unassailable lead by half-time.

Wenger said: “I said before the game we had to deal with some inconvenient facts, that we couldn’t beat Chelsea for years.

“To get that out of our system was at stake today. What was important was that psychological hurdle does not stand in your way.

“We have not to make too much of it but as well not ignore it. To find that balance is not easy.

“I told them the best way is to focus on the quality of the football we want to play.

“I think especially in the first half we wanted to put them under pressure with a high pace and our speed of passing and it worked quite well.

“The first half was nearly perfect. We played with style, with pace, with movement. That’s the kind of football we want to play.”