LONDON - FA Cup winners Arsenal beat Premier League champions Chelsea 1-0 in the Community Shield on Sunday to claim the first trophy of the season in England.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain scored at Wembley Stadium as Arsenal won the traditional Premier League curtain-raiser.
"We've played a decent pre-season so far and it's good preparation for the first game," defender Per Mertesacker told BT Sport. "It's a little title for us and keeps our confidence high so we are pretty happy with the performance."
Petr Cech recorded the clean sheet in his first competitive start since his summer move to Arsenal after 11 seasons at Chelsea.
The win was the first for Gunners manager Arsene Wenger in 14 meetings against his Chelsea counter-part Jose Mourinho.
It was also Arsenal's first victory over the Blues in seven games dating back to 2011.
"We have suffered physically today and the pitch was not great," Wenger said. "But overall it's good because in pre-season we have been solid defensively. Pre-season has gone quite well."
Mourinho felt his team were better on the day despite coming up short.
"We had chances, we had more initiative, we had more of the ball but they (Arsenal) played the game tactically and did well," he said.
A sublime finish from Oxlade-Chamberlain in the 24th minute gave Arsenal the only goal needed.
The England international cut towards the center of the area and curled a shot into the top corner for Arsenal's first goal in six games against Chelsea.
"It was nice to see that one go in," Oxlade-Chamberlain said.
"To come to Wembley against a great team like Chelsea after the season they had last year, it's a tough challenge. But it's those challenges we need to overcome this season."
Chelsea midfielder Ramires had a great chance before half-time but headed over goal from close range.
Eden Hazard then shot over after being sent in by Cesc Fabregas in the second half and Oscar's free-kick was punched away by a lunging Cech.
Arsenal's Olivier Giroud then shot over goal before Cech caught Kurt Zouma's floating header as the champions continued to press without much luck
Chelsea keeper Thibaut Courtois kept his team in the match by coming well off his line to deny Santi Cazolra and Kieran Gibbs after both were put through alone but the Blues weren't able to get the equalizer.
Chelsea open their title defence next Saturday against Swansea, while Arsenal host West Ham the following day.