“Where do you want me to go?” he said through a smile. “So I go to the training ground.”

Certainly Wenger’s outward enjoyment of the game has not waned. During Arsenal’s open training session last week, Wenger prowled around the drills and small-sided games wearing cleats, shorts and athletic socks, his knobby knees belying the spring in his step. When players and fans took part in a friendly competition to try to shoot a ball off the crossbar from about 20 yards, Wenger stepped up to demonstrate and drilled the bar on his first attempt. The fans roared. Wenger shrugged and smirked.

Wenger also does not seem weary of the mind games he has long played with rivals such as José Mourinho, the mercurial Chelsea manager and longtime Wenger tormentor. In the run-up to last weekend’s Community Shield match against Chelsea, Wenger fielded a slew of questions on Mourinho’s dominance of their rivalry: Mourinho had not lost against Wenger in 13 matches and once mocked him as “a specialist in failure.” Mourinho also claims that — contrary to the popular narrative — Arsenal is as big a spender in the transfer market as Chelsea.

Wenger laughed about most of it, but he displayed more of a Cheshire-cat grin after the Gunners beat Chelsea, 1-0, at Wembley Stadium. When the final whistle was blown, Wenger smiled and quickly headed to the dressing room. Even when he returned for the awards ceremony, he conspicuously avoided any interaction, including a handshake, with Mourinho.

It was clearly a meaningful victory. Whether that success will translate into Arsenal’s first league title since its move to Emirates Stadium in 2006 is another question altogether. Wenger said that this year’s team had the most mettle of any he had coached since his early golden years, and that its collective experience gave him confidence.