Arsène Wenger has challenged his Arsenal side to assert their title credentials by climbing to the top of the table on Wednesday night.
A repeat of yesterday’s 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers against the same opponents at the Emirates Stadium would enable Arsenal to go past Chelsea on goals scored, a remarkable recovery given that they trailed the leaders by 11 points after a 3-0 defeat at home to the West London club at the end of November.
Wenger said that his players believe they can win the Barclays Premier League after goals in each half from Cesc Fàbregas and Fran M?rida gave them an impressive win at the Reebok Stadium, where Owen Coyle was managing Bolton for the first time.
“Our motivation will be 100 per cent on Wednesday,” the Arsenal manager said. “We know we’re in quite an interesting position that nobody expected us to be in. We have a belief. When the season started not everyone in the squad was convinced we would be where we are. Now they are.
“It will mean something to the players to go top. We’re a big club, and when you’re a big club the biggest difficulty is to know in October that you cannot challenge for the title, as happened last season. Now we know we can win it, so we have to go for it.”
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Wenger praised the contribution of Fàbregas on his return from a hamstring injury, although he stopped short of admitting that keeping his captain fit is a prerequisite for a sustained title challenge.
Arsenal’s injury problems show no sign of receding. Samir Nasri and Aaron Ramsey were ruled out for three weeks with respective hamstring and thigh injuries sustained in training last week, but Wenger expressed hope that Denilson and Theo Walcott will have recovered from back and abductor muscle problems to face Bolton. Nicklas Bendtner is also on the mend after a complicated groin problem and is expected back at the start of next month.
“I think we have more steel and maturity than a few years ago,” Wenger said. “Some of our players have more personality. When I speak about players with personality I’m talking about Cesc. He has authority and, as you can see, was very influential. You can see how much we need him. He gets stronger and stronger and he’s only starting in his career.
“We expected a fully committed Bolton team and they put us under pressure with long balls. For 20 minutes in the second half they had chances and were dangerous because we lost too many balls in midfield. It will be hard again on Wednesday.”
Coyle expressed satisfaction with his players’ efforts, despite his side being rooted in the bottom three. The Scot has seen enough in only seven days at the club to be convinced that they can avoid relegation, although he could do without one of their two games in hand being a return fixture against Arsenal.
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“The level of performance was terrific and what we offered over 90 minutes would normally have resulted in points, whether one or three,” Coyle said. “We created chances, but need a bit of luck against these elite clubs.
“Some of our play was terrific today and if we continue that throughout the season it will result in a lot of points. If we play like that at the Emirates on Wednesday it could have a positive result.
“I was flattered by the reception — it was fantastic — but I’m not here for that, I’m here to win points. We won’t face that quality every week and can take a lot of positives.”