Louis van Gaal concluded his season by paying tribute to the fans that continued to support him and his side despite accruing only 13 points from the first 10 games while Manuel Pellegrini chose to reflect on how close Manchester City could have come to toppling Chelsea without the early injuries they suffered.

Jose Mourinho, it may come as no surprise, devilishly yet innovatively chose to poke fun at his rivals while waging war with some early mind-games. Using graphics, the Chelsea manager hypothesised about some mythical teams that bore an uncanny resemblance to his main rivals.

“This is a football pitch with two goals, one ball, but there is one team that would like to play without goals,” he said, of the plain red-shirted team. “That team plays really well and the ball goes and goes and goes and the quality of the ball possession is really beautiful, but no goals. 

“And, they ask the international board of FIFA to play like this, but they were told that it was not possible, that the bigger percentage of ball possession doesn’t win matches and they were not champions.”

He said: “After that there was another team (wearing sky blue shirts) that were less radical and they asked to play only with one goal.

“They were fantastic and they scored a lot of goals and the goals were coming from every position and they score and they score and they score, but they never conceded goals, because no goal.

“Again, the international board told them ‘I’m sorry, you can’t be champions because football is with two goals’.”

Mourinho continued: “The third team (red shirts, white sleeves) was almost there, because they wanted to play with two goals.

“They were scoring some, they were also conceding some. They were fantastic. They scored really beautiful goals, they concede some goals too and they were almost there. 

“But they asked the international board to play only between January and April. And they were told ‘no chance, no chance’. “You have to play between August and May, so they couldn’t be champions.”

Lastly, of his own Chelsea side, Mourinho said: “Finally come another team. They wanted to play with the normal rules and they know that to win matches they had to score one more goal than the opponent.

“How can you do this? By scoring a lot of goals or not conceding and scoring one. And they did it both ways. Scoring a lot, conceding some. Scoring one goal and conceding no goals.

“That was the option and lots of goals were being conceded, they played from August till May and sometimes they brought the bus.”

Assuming the third team related to Arsenal then, having just retained their FA Cup in late May, Arsene Wenger could justifiably scoff at the claim they only play until April.

Indeed, by becoming the most successful side in FA Cup history, the Gunners demonstrated a desire to win rarely seen in recent seasons around the Emirates.

Theo Walcott, scorer of the opener, believes that this current squad is the strongest he has played in. This second trophy after an eight-year absence of any silverware, lends weight to that theory. But can they win the league next season?

The last time was in 2004 when the ‘Invincibles’ went a full season undefeated.

Defensively they have tightened up by adding some protection in midfield while I also believe that, towards the end of the season at least, Wenger adopted a less gung-ho strategy that allowed his team to hit the opposition on the break, rather than dominating possession and being hit by the counter-attack. It worked.

In the cup final Villa’s Fabian Delph and Jack Grealish were quickly closed down while Christian Benteke was isolated and nullified.

Pundits have likened Arsenal’s style to that of Barcelona but without the cutting edge. What is often missed is that Barca’s forwards work hard defensively, pressing high up the pitch to force turnovers. This Arsenal performance was, ironically, more in keeping with that style.

Since paying off the finance on their new Emirates Stadium the purse strings have been loosened leading to several key signings in recent years meaning they have now added some real depth to the squad – at least in midfield! The acquisition of Alexis Sanchez last summer was arguably the deal of the year.

Knowing they have money to spend ensures the Cup winners will be linked to a number of big-money signings. However, for me, the priority is to motivate the existing squad to work, week in, week out, as hard as they did in the Cup Final.

But I can’t see it happening. Arsenal have also struggled in past years to allow their star signings to flourish in successive seasons. Think of the initial impact made by Cazorla and Ozil and how they subsequently faded. Maintaining Sanchez’s goalscoring and ability to drift through defences will be crucial.

I do believe that, next season, Arsenal will return stronger while continuing to excite many neutrals with their style of eye-catching football. They will push Chelsea closer although I still cannot see them maintaining the required level of consistency throughout. Well said, Jose!