Why it's time for Arsenal to show what they're made of

But if Wenger's side are to really make a fight of things with Chelsea and Manchester United they cannot afford any sloppiness over the next month.

When Arsenal trudged off the Emirates pitch on November 29 having been beaten hollow by Carlo Ancelotti's Blues, Chelsea's 11-point advantage looked like a chasm that could only widen.

Wenger's laughable claims that there was little between the sides and that Didier Drogba, so often the scourge of Arsenal and who had merely scored twice on the day, had barely been involved in the game, seemed to be a further signal that the Gunners chief was losing the plot.

Yet, incredibly, and despite a genuine injury nightmare which means he will be without Robin Van Persie, Cesc Fabregas, Nicklas Bendtner, Gael Clichy and Kieran Gibbs - as well as African Nations Cup stars Emmanuel Eboue and Alex Song - against Bolton this evening, victory will take the Gunners to within a single point of Ancelotti's Blues.

Incredibly, had Arsenal held on to their early advantage at Burnley, rather than being pegged back, they could have gone top this evening, a remarkable achievement given the situation they were staring at barely five weeks ago.

For Wenger to conjure such a run of results - 16 points out of 18 while Chelsea have dropped nine and United seven in the same period - is an outstanding achievement.

Indeed, maybe his sulking response to the Carling Cup defeat at Manchester City was exactly what the Frenchman needed to re-focus his own ambitions and get his players to realise this was a make or break campaign.

The Frenchman had begun the season convinced that this represented the best opportunity his side have had since the arrival of Jose Mourinho in 2004.

Wenger was privately certain that United would be vulnerable as they sought to find a way of filling the Cristiano Ronaldo-sized hole in the Old Trafford squad, and that Chelsea, once again under new management, would not be consistent.

That view looked decidedly dodgy at the end of November, when Arsenal were a distant fourth and seemingly watching the two leaders disappear into the distance.

But having roped both of them back in, Wenger knows his side cannot now falter and hand back the initiative and momentum they have quietly, almost off the radar, been gathering over the past month.

Arsenal's coming games do represent the sort of matches in which Wenger would expect the run to continue.

Managerless - until, we can presume, the imminent arrival of Owen Coyle - Bolton should present fewer problems for Wenger's side than the Arsenal fans might encounter in getting to the Emirates.

And while Wenger would not expect his side to repeat the six-goal thumping they gave Everton on the opening day of the season, another three point haul against David Moyes' men is odds-on at the weekend.

Then it is Bolton, again, albeit with the factor of it being Coyle's first game in charge at the Reebok Stadium before a trip to Villa Park to face the same Aston Villa side they took apart over Christmas.

Win all four and they will be top unless Chelsea, without their African stars of course, can match that record against Hull, Sunderland and Birmingham and tee things up for a crucial eight days when they first host United and then travel to Stamford Bridge.

That 180 minutes, coming at the end of a transfer window in which Wenger has conceded he will have to show acumen in the market to bolster his attacking options, will be the acid test of whether Arsenal are serious contenders or merely pretenders to the crown.

The key, though, is to keep on winning to build the level of confidence required to go into those two games with genuine ambitions of glory.

It requires the likes of Abou Diaby and Aaron Ramsey to keep performing at the optimum level, for Eduardo to demonstrate that three goals in his last four outings is proof that he is returning to his pre-Martin Taylor level and not enjoying a brief run of form and for Theo Walcott, Samir Nasri and Tomas Rosicky to justify Wenger's faith in their injury-plagued talents.

Do so, win the games and ensure the pressure is on both Chelsea and United, and Wenger could go into February as top dog, knowing that the title is within his grasp again - an achievement which would surely help persuade both Van Persie and Fabregas that staying at the Emirates is the right thing to do.

A month ago, perhaps only Wenger believed the next four weeks could be so important. But now they are, unquestionably. It is time for Arsenal to show what they really are made of.

Credit to : Ian Cruise in Laptop with Martin Lipton