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THE PRIDE OF LONDON . . . Arsenal striker Theo Walcott (centre), flanked by Jack Wilshere (left) and Aaron Ramsey waves to the packed crowds in Islington on the club’s open-top bus parade to celebrate with their fans their second FA Cup trophy in as many years in the streets of London yesterday. — Reuters

LONDON. — Proud Arsene Wenger hailed his FA Cup winners Wembley triumph – then warned Jose Mourinho that he now has his sights on taking the English Premier League soccer title from Chelsea next season.

Wenger revealed his pride at making history as Arsenal stormed to FA Cup final glory with a 4-0 thrashing of Aston Villa on Saturday.

Wenger has also challenged his Arsenal stars to use their FA Cup final master-class as inspiration to mount a serious bid for the Premier League title next season.

Wenger’s side made history at Wembley on Saturday with a 4-0 rout of Aston Villa that underlined their renaissance in the second half of the campaign and served as a warning to English champions Chelsea.

Goals from Theo Walcott, Alexis Sanchez, Per Mertesacker and Olivier Giroud ensured Wenger became the first post-War manager to win the FA Cup six times, while the Gunners are now the most successful club in the history of the famous old competition after lifting the trophy for the 12th time.

It was also the biggest FA Cup final margin of victory since 1994, but even those gaudy statistics don’t do justice to the potential impact of Arsenal’s stylish display.

As an added bonus, Wenger become the first manager in the post-War period to win the competition six times, a tally matched by only George Ramsey, who won the last of his with Villa in 1920.

There was another significant slice of history for Arsenal as they lifted the famous old trophy for the 12th time, moving them ahead of Manchester United as the most successful club in the competition.

After a spluttering start to the season that raised renewed questions about Wenger’s future, the Frenchman and his team have got their groove back over the last few months, rattling off a long winning streak to climb to a third place finish in the league before winning the Cup.

Now, 11 years after they were last crowned kings of England, Wenger is willing to talk bullishly about a sustained assault on the title and even invoked the memory of his famous “Invincibles”, who went undefeated en route to winning the league in 2004.

“I feel we have made progress since the start of the season for sure, in the way we play, the way we manage games and our togetherness as well,” Wenger said.

“We finished third and won the Cup. It’s a good platform to do well next season. It’s about consistency at the top level. We have shown signs of consistency.

“Remember we are the only ones who didn’t lose for 49 games. Nobody else has done it.

“When we have that kind of strong consistency we can challenge.”

Arsenal’s revival has been helped by the loosening of the purse strings at the Emirates Stadium, with the big-money acquisitions of Sanchez and Mesut Ozil over the last two years adding guile, grace and big-game know-how to a team of notoriously brittle confidence.

And the assured way they dealt with Villa, highlighted by Sanchez’s brilliant long-range strike, gave Wenger confidence he doesn’t need to invest in many more new signings over the close-season.

“We will see what is going on in the transfer market, but we already have a good basis and a good confidence level,” he said.

“Lets be intelligent in the summer. Of course we can push on.

“We have won the league before when we had the potential to do it. Lets do it again.”

Even a football obsessive like Wenger wanted to focus on enjoying the fruits of a hard season for a few hours at least however and he dodged any further questions on potential transfer targets.

“I’m not in a buying (players) mood tonight. I will just buy a drink for my players!” he said.

“How will I celebrate? The players have organised it all. I have organised the whole year so I will follow them for a change!”

The manager also dismissed speculation that Walcott could leave the club in the summer.

He added: “Now is the time for him to stay with us and I don’t see why he won’t be with us next season.”

Walcott then thanked manager Wenger for trusting him on the big occasion after the Gunners demolished Aston Villa 4-0 in Saturday’s FA Cup final.

“I want to thank the manager for picking me and having faith in me and hopefully I repaid him,” said the 26-year-old striker, who netted the opening goal in a dynamic performance as he completes his rehabilitation from a serious knee injury. — AFP.