Arsene Wenger believes Arsenal can use their back-to-back FA Cup victories as a springboard to challenge for the Premier League title next season.

Wenger’s side swept Aston Villa aside 4-0 in Saturday’s final to ensure that they retained the trophy and broke the record for the most FA Cup wins in English football history.

Now the Gunners boss wants his side – who finished third in the league this season – to build on that cup success by making a strong bid for their first championship since 2004.

“We feel we have made progress since the start of the season, that’s for sure – in the way we play and the way we manage our games,” said the Frenchman.

“We finished third, we won the Cup and since January we’ve gained a huge number of points. So it’s a good platform to do better next season and of course I think we can push on, why not?

“We have won the league in the past when we had the potential to do it, and that’s what we want to do again. I think it is about consistency at the top level and we have shown signs of consistency.

“In the past when we won leagues, we have been consistent – we are the only ones who didn’t lose for 49 games, nobody else has done it. When we have a good confidence level and the quality, we can be consistent.”

Arsenal always looked in control against Villa, with Theo Walcott firing them into the lead with a volley five minutes before half-time and Alexis Sanchez netting a spectacular 30-yarder to make it 2-0.

Gunners captain Per Mertesacker headed in a corner just after the hour and substitute Olivier Giroud completed the scoring in added time with a close-range finish.

That sealed the 12th FA Cup success in Arsenal’s history and the sixth under Wenger, who has now won the competition more times than any other manager in the modern era.

“We were at it from the first to the last minute and I never felt that the focus or quality dropped,” added the Arsenal boss. “In the end it became comfortable but we missed some chances in the first half.

“On top of that we had two important moments – we scored just before half-time and after half-time and that was too much for Villa with the quality we had.

“It’s great for the club because we’ve won it [the FA Cup] more times than any other club. Personally I’ve had seven finals and we’ve won six, so I’m very proud of that.”