Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain believes Arsenal are still benefiting from the feel-good factor of winning the FA Cup and thinks the triumph could spur the team on to more success this season.

The Gunners ended a nine-year wait for silverware when they beat Hull at Wembley in May – a victory that eased the disappointment of another underwhelming league finish.

Arsenal spent more than 100 days at the top of the English Premier League last season but had to settle for fourth, seven points behind champions Manchester City, who they face in the Community Shield today.

“When there’s a lot of talk about a team that should or could be winning things and it’s not happening it can become a little bit frustrating,” Oxlade-Chamberlain said.

“There’s been a little bit of negative media about Arsenal in recent years but we always believed we would win a trophy soon and the squad we’re putting together could do it.

“The fact it did happen, I don’t know if it was a relief, it was a really nice reward for the togetherness we’ve had to show for a while now.

“It does start a winning momentum and once you know you can win, it gives you confidence – you can go into competitions thinking you can win and expecting to go far.”

Arsenal have made bold moves in the transfer market this summer with the signings of Alexis Sanchez, Mathieu Debuchy, Calum Chambers and David Ospina.

Sanchez, who scored 19 goals for Barcelona in La Liga last season, cost around £35 million and is the club’s second most expensive signing after Mesut Ozil arrived for £42.4 million last year.

“It’s really exciting to see someone like Alexis Sanchez come in as well as Mathieu Debuchy and Calum Chambers,” he said.

“It definitely brings a really good lift to the squad. When you’re playing with new players like that you want to get to know them and you want to gel with them.

“It does bring a massive lift of excitement to the squad and we haven’t even seen Mesut Ozil yet – when our Germany World Cup winners come back it will give us another lift again.”

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.