Dominique Janssen hopes Arsenal Ladies’ Wembley triumph will give them the self-belief to challenge Chelsea for the Women’s Super League title.

The Gunners have already been beaten in their league clashes with both Chelsea – who are second in the table – and front-runners Manchester City Women this season.

However, midfielder Janssen, who came on as a substitute in Saturday’s Women’s FA Cup final against Chelsea, feels her side’s 1-0 victory can be a platform for them to close the gap in the league.

“I think this has to give us a lot of confidence that we can play well and beat a top team because this year it’s not been good so far, losing against Chelsea and Man City,” said the Dutch international.

“So this must give us a boost and positive energy for the next few games and hopefully we can keep winning and finish as high as possible in the league.

“We’re not conceding a lot of goals and if we’re improving that it will help us in the league as well. We have the Continental Cup as well as the league and hopefully there will be more [success] to come.”

The 21-year-old, who joined the Gunners from Bundesliga side SGS Essen almost a year ago, had made the starting line-up for every round of the Women’s FA Cup prior to the final.

Although she was restricted to the bench at Wembley, Janssen came on in place of Fara Williams to help protect the back four as Chelsea threatened a response to Danielle Carter’s early strike.

“Of course I was a little disappointed that I didn’t start, but we have a lot of good players in the squad, and I’m really happy that I could play 20 minutes and that we won,” added Janssen. “All the minutes I play are good for me and it was a really nice experience to play in front of so many people.

“Hopefully in the future I can play more and become more important for the team – that’s my goal.

“Arsenal are already a big club with lots of trophies, so I’m happy we could add this trophy to that history.”

The Gunners’ next league assignment is on Saturday, when they travel to struggling Doncaster Rovers Belles (kick-off 6.30pm).