Facing Arsenal was easy, taunts Ashley Cole after Chelsea's Emirates romp
Welcome home: Ashely Cole (centre) celebrates Kolo Toure's own goal with Frank Lampard (left) and Didier Drogba
Ashley Cole added insult to Arsenal's injured pride by claiming a trip to the Emirates was just what Chelsea needed after crashing out of Europe. The Blues inflicted Arsenal's worst home league defeat for 32 years with the 4-1 thrashing, bouncing back from their fiery Champions League exit to Barcelona in midweek.
The club are set to be charged by UEFA this week for failing to control their players during and after last Wednesday's semi-final, and Didier Drogba, Michael Ballack and Jose Bosingwa face charges over their treatment of referee Tom Henning Ovrebo.
Chelsea's playing style was also heavily criticised in Spain after their negative approach in the goalless first leg at the Nou Camp.
But Cole, a none-too-popular former Gunner, believes the defeat of Arsenal shows they are not the enemies of football.
'We know there are a lot of strong emotions in football and sometimes when you haven’t kicked a ball you can’t talk about those emotions and you don’t understand,' the England left-back told London's Evening Standard.
'Against Arsenal we showed how good we are. We didn’t get in too many battles or too many fights this time. The lads have done well.
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'A lot of people would have thought we’d all be down and out, but we showed a lot of character. At times we defended really well and now we’ve clinched third spot.'
Cole said the 'mood was down' during training on Thursday and Friday and added: 'Everyone’s disappointed when you lose in the semi-final of the Champions League. It’s life and there is nothing we can do about it.
'The players here have got great character. I have played with a lot of big players, but at Chelsea they seem to be able to motivate themselves very quickly. It showed against Arsenal and it had to show.'
The 28-year-old is never likely to be warmly received at Arsenal after the nature of his departure to Chelsea three years ago. But Cole taunted the Emirates boo-boys for helping him to recover from the crushing disappointment of defeat against Barcelona.
Asked if he found it hard to play so soon after the European exit, he said: 'It was easy for me but I have different reasons for that. Coming back to my old club, I hate losing to Arsenal so it means I’m more motivated.'
Referring to the abuse from fans, he said: 'It is always there — I don’t blame them. I just want to play my game and win for Chelsea.'
