Wenger and Toure upbeat as Arsenal prepare for the title crunch

After Sunday's crunch Premiership clash at Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool both await Arsenal in the coming weeks yet manager Arsene Wenger remains ever the optimist.

"It will be very interesting because we go to Chelsea and Manchester United and play Liverpool as well, so we will have a better idea next Sunday night as to what will happen until the end of the season," he said.

"Chelsea is a big game for us now, but maybe it's a good opportunity not to put too much pressure on ourselves and to show how good we are against a good side."

As expected, Arsenal lost their long grip on the top position when Manchester United scored a routine 2-0 victory over Bolton Wanderers at Old Trafford on Wednesday, sending United three points clear.

Kolo Toure agrees that now is the time to show what Arsenal are really made of. He has called on his team-mates to use their 2-0 Champions League win at AC Milan as inspiration. "We are still in there and just need to keep going," said the Ivory Coast defender. "The most important thing is to stay strong in your mind and believe that until the end it is not finished.

"We know that we can go anywhere and win - we have shown that in Milan. We need to repeat that kind of performance on Sunday and then we can be on top of Chelsea."

The Blues are unbeaten at home for four years but the Gunners came mighty close to ending that record last term when they were within six minutes of victory, courtesy of a Mathieu Flamini strike, before a Michael Essien stunner restored parity and their proud record.

They have also beaten Chelsea this campaign when William Gallas's header separated the two sides at The Emirates before Christmas.

And if they need any more encouragement, they can draw further inspiration from the last team to beat the Blues on their own turf in Premier League action back in February 2004 - Arsenal.