Arsenal defender Ashley Cole has warned title rivals Chelsea their Community Shield triumph will count for nothing when the clubs meet in the league in 12 days' time.
Didier Drogba inspired Jose Mourinho's defending Premiership champions to a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium as the Gunners, without talismanic Patrick Vieira's commanding presence in the midfield, found themselves out-muscled in the curtain-raiser to the Premiership season.
The two London clubs will meet for a second time in two weeks at Stamford Bridge on August 21 and Cole, who despite saying he would never play for Arsenal again, last month signed a new contract keeping him at the north London club until 2008, has warned the team that tapped him up to expect a backlash in the league fixture.
Cole said: "It will be totally different when we play Chelsea in the Premiership. This was the Community Shield and in two weeks it's the league.
"I think some people might say that the Community Shield matters but we won it last season and we lost the league. So we're not going to think too deeply about it - it's over now.
"Of course losing the Community Shield is going to make us want to beat Chelsea more. We'll give it our best and hopefully that will do.
"But now we must look forward to the first game in the league against Newcastle. If we win that, we'll be a little bit happier. Hopefully we can beat them."
Chelsea were criticised by both Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger and Cole for their stalling tactics and both refuted Mourinho's claims that Chelsea are stronger than they were last season.
Cole added: "I think Chelsea are just the same as last season. They've had a good pre-season but when they put 10 men behind the ball, it's going to be hard to break them down.
"It's hard to break any team down when they do that. But it was a good test for us. Chelsea are a good team and they've got a lot of good players.
"They played well on Sunday but we think that we should have maybe got the second goal and pushed on.
"But we played well, the pitch was a bit dry so we couldn't get our passing game going too much but we felt that we did all right. Of course, we've got Sol Campbell to come back if he's fit enough. We'll take it from there."
As mentioned, Arsenal missed the services of former captain Patrick Vieira following his move to Serie A with Juventus, however, Wenger feels his side can recover from the loss of the Frenchman if they can tighten up on set plays.
Wenger said: "The magic of football is that sometimes a big transfer shakes a team up. I remember once I sold a player in Monaco the day before the championship started.
"Franck Sauzee was in the line-up but then I decided to sell him and the next day we won 4-1. But at the time it was like a disaster had happened to us.
"I feel that we are a little bit small without Patrick. We improved our defensive record on set pieces last season but that is where certainly we will miss him.
"When the ball was at the back Patrick was always there to take the ball. He had two players on his right shoulder and two on his left but he was never scared to want the ball. We will miss him there too."
Arsenal begin their Premiership campaign against Newcastle United at Highbury on August 14 before a trip to Chelsea the following week.
Didier Drogba inspired Jose Mourinho's defending Premiership champions to a 2-1 victory over Arsenal at the Millennium Stadium as the Gunners, without talismanic Patrick Vieira's commanding presence in the midfield, found themselves out-muscled in the curtain-raiser to the Premiership season.
The two London clubs will meet for a second time in two weeks at Stamford Bridge on August 21 and Cole, who despite saying he would never play for Arsenal again, last month signed a new contract keeping him at the north London club until 2008, has warned the team that tapped him up to expect a backlash in the league fixture.
Cole said: "It will be totally different when we play Chelsea in the Premiership. This was the Community Shield and in two weeks it's the league.
"I think some people might say that the Community Shield matters but we won it last season and we lost the league. So we're not going to think too deeply about it - it's over now.
"Of course losing the Community Shield is going to make us want to beat Chelsea more. We'll give it our best and hopefully that will do.
"But now we must look forward to the first game in the league against Newcastle. If we win that, we'll be a little bit happier. Hopefully we can beat them."
Chelsea were criticised by both Arsenal coach Arsene Wenger and Cole for their stalling tactics and both refuted Mourinho's claims that Chelsea are stronger than they were last season.
Cole added: "I think Chelsea are just the same as last season. They've had a good pre-season but when they put 10 men behind the ball, it's going to be hard to break them down.
"It's hard to break any team down when they do that. But it was a good test for us. Chelsea are a good team and they've got a lot of good players.
"They played well on Sunday but we think that we should have maybe got the second goal and pushed on.
"But we played well, the pitch was a bit dry so we couldn't get our passing game going too much but we felt that we did all right. Of course, we've got Sol Campbell to come back if he's fit enough. We'll take it from there."
As mentioned, Arsenal missed the services of former captain Patrick Vieira following his move to Serie A with Juventus, however, Wenger feels his side can recover from the loss of the Frenchman if they can tighten up on set plays.
Wenger said: "The magic of football is that sometimes a big transfer shakes a team up. I remember once I sold a player in Monaco the day before the championship started.
"Franck Sauzee was in the line-up but then I decided to sell him and the next day we won 4-1. But at the time it was like a disaster had happened to us.
"I feel that we are a little bit small without Patrick. We improved our defensive record on set pieces last season but that is where certainly we will miss him.
"When the ball was at the back Patrick was always there to take the ball. He had two players on his right shoulder and two on his left but he was never scared to want the ball. We will miss him there too."
Arsenal begin their Premiership campaign against Newcastle United at Highbury on August 14 before a trip to Chelsea the following week.