Azpilicueta: We’ve put down title marker

Cesar Azpilicueta believes Chelsea’s comprehensive Capital One Cup win at the Emirates shows they are better placed than Arsenal to the win the title.

Tuesday night’s London derby was hardly the thrilling fare many had hoped for, but the fourth-round tie did raise questions over the Gunners’ ability to challenge for trophies.

While top of the Premier League after nine matches, the 2-0 loss was their second successive home defeat and meant Arsene Wenger has now failed to overcome Jose Mourinho in nine attempts.

More worryingly for the north Londoners, the defeat highlighted the stark difference in second-placed Chelsea’s strength in depth compared to Arsenal’s.

The Blues dominated despite making 10 changes to Sunday’s win against Manchester City, with Azpilicueta and Juan Mata coming in from the cold to score in front of 9,000 travelling fans.

Asked if victory at the Emirates had exposed the difference in quality between the squads, Azpilicueta said: “Yes. We felt really confident on the pitch and did a very good game.

“We controlled most of the game. We had two or three more chances but the feeling inside of us was that we were dominating Arsenal in their stadium and they are top of the table, so it’s very nice.

“We are improving in every game and this is the most important thing.

“We play in a difficult stadium as well in Newcastle on Saturday. It’s always hard there. This league is really competitive.”

Chelsea head into to St James’ Park unbeaten in their past nine matches as the impact of Mourinho’s return starts to bear fruit.

While successful since returning to Stamford Bridge, the Portuguese’s arrival has seen some of last season’s regulars drop down the pecking order.

David Luiz, Mata and Azpilicueta are amongst those, with the latter on Tuesday night making just his third start of the season.

Azpilicueta was one of a number of Chelsea players whose performance will have aided their bid for a regular starting role.

By contrast, few Arsenal players boosted their reputation on a night in which winger Ryo Miyaichi conceded he and his team-mates were below par.

“Obviously we were disappointed, for me as an individual as well,” he said.

“I think they were a bit sharper than us but the difficult thing was they scored first.

“We wanted to score as quickly as possible in the second half but after 65 minutes they scored so we were a bit thrown after that.

“I would say it (my performance) was not good enough. I’m not satisfied on my individual things but we have a lot of games to go.”

Arsenal’s Thomas Vermaelen has called on the Gunners to get back on track when Liverpool visit the Premier League leaders on Saturday.

“It’s really important for the league, we need to respond quickly,” he said. “It’s good the game is on Saturday and we can respond.”