Arsenal can't afford another false dawn, but nobody can deny Arsene Wenger understands the beauty of the FA Cup

At the end of his most torrid season, Arsene Wenger secured the most significant of his three FA Cup triumphs during this decade.

It was a greater achievement to beat Chelsea, the newly-crowned champions, than it was Hull City in 2014 and Aston Villa in 2015.

It was a more striking and memorable triumph to do it by inspiring the kind of performance based on courage, spirit and determination which many believed was beyond the old Professor’s powers these days.

This was victory in an epic Cup Final against the most powerful team in the land, even if they seemed to have left a little energy behind while celebrating John Terry’s exit from Stamford Bridge six days earlier.

It should stand on its own as a landmark moment as well as a pointer to the club’s future, even though it is inevitable that the present will instantly become wrapped up in what comes next.

Twice before in recent years, success in this competition has been hailed as the beginning of something even bigger for Arsenal.

Twice before, the next step never came.

The same point will be debated all week long now.

The debate will be valid and, yes, tortured and difficult because we still don’t really know what to expect from Arsenal next season.

We still won’t know whether any kind of breakthrough has actually arrived even after Wenger confirms, as expected, that he is staying on in charge for two more years.

That is the way of it with Arsenal now. The football industry endlessly seeks answers; but the questions remain at the Emirates, even now.

The supporters, at this point, still don’t know officially if the manager is staying – or Alexis Sanchez and Mezut Ozil, for that matter.

So the talking will go on, and on.

But while that big debate about the future looms ahead, let’s applaud this particular success for its own impressive merits.

The millions of us who still believe in the grandeur and the glory of the FA Cup will have been gratified and satisfied by the commitment the Gunners showed from the very beginning to win this match.

Yes, they had another agenda. They had to put some glitter on the campaign and they had some vindication to deliver for their manager.

But who can deny that Wenger understands the beauty and importance of the thing for its own sake now that he has won it a magnificent seven times?

Certainly, the celebrations of both the players and the fans afterwards offered little evidence that this was a mere consolation prize after the failure for the first time under Wenger to finish in the top four.

The supporters even sang - ‘are you watching Tottenham?’

True, it’s Spurs who will be in the Champions League next season.

But this win felt good enough for the Gunners faithful to make the point that it is silverware that counts most, and none has yet arrived for their rejuvenated rivals along the Seven Sisters Road.

The point also has to be made that Arsenal planted their flag very firmly in the sand from the first instant of this game.

It was just as much that approach as any perceived lowering of Chelsea’s performance level which set the tone.

It also need underlining that Wenger - who, according to Tony Adams can’t coach his way out of a paper bag - called this game brilliantly on the tactics board.

By preferring the more mobile Danny Welbeck to Olivier Giroud up front, Chelsea’s defenders faced a worrying distraction which freed the superb Sanchez to work his magic.

Arsenal pressed and harried diligently all afternoon, again in contrast to their reputation for indiscipline. And when their rigour at the back was threatened, they got bodies in the way of the ball time and again.

Wenger’s side survived a testing half-hour of pressure from Chelsea after the interval, until Diego Costa equalised Sanchez’s fifth-minute opener.

It was during this spell that the towering contributions of Per Mertesacker, the much-improved Granit Xhaka and heroic goalkeeper, David Ospina, became fully evident.

And it was then that the full extent of Chelsea’s hunger for the Double became apparent, although in the end that simply applied more polish to the extent of Arsenal’s achievement.

The fact that Wenger’s FA Cup talisman, Aaron Ramsey, restored the lead within just three minutes was emblematic of the attitude Arsenal brought with them to Wembley.

Meanwhile, Chelsea proved fallible. It wasn’t the first time it has happened this season even though they are worthy and impressive champions.

This is no discredit to them. This is English football. Conte learned quickly - much more quickly than Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola - that days like this lurk around every corner in the game here.

Their challenge next season now they are back in the Champions League will be vastly different. But then Conte already knew before this weekend that his work would begin all over again.

That task will be scrutinised by the football industry’s endless debate - but let’s remember the essence of what happened here on this warm May day, too.

The better team won against a good team in a gripping final. And the FA Cup is all the better for it once again.