Arsene Wenger Praises the 'Intensity & Quality' of His Team After Community Shield Win

Arsene Wenger has commended the "intensity" and "quality" of his players after Sunday's Community Shield victory against Chelsea.

The Gunners emerged as winners by virtue of a penalty shootout after the game finished 1-1 in the 90 minutes.

And Wenger has called on his players to match the "discipline" they showed in the win when the Premier League campaign begins on Friday against Leicester.

IAN KINGTON/GettyImages

"I’m very happy because we won the trophy," the Frenchman told Arsenal's official website. "The quality of the game was very good and the two teams gave absolutely everything. 

"The two teams played with a lot of intensity and quality. Even when we were 1-0 down, we didn’t panic and kept control of our game to come back."

Despite his praise of the performance, Wenger stressed that Arsenal need to ensure that there is no dip in the intensity levels in the early parts of the season.

Dan Istitene/GettyImages

"It’s an encouragement and nothing more than that," he added. "We want to find a good balance between the confidence we can get out of these games and the urgency that every Premier League game demands. 

"We had some bad starts in the first game of the Premier League over the last four years but we’ve had the intensity in our games that is needed to be ready. Let’s go into the Premier League with the same discipline, the same spirit, and see where we can go. 

"If you look at the Premier League, there’s seven or eight teams who you can say can win the Premier League, so it makes it very interesting."