Wenger looks on the bright side

The statistics make grim reading for Arsenal: three points adrift of the English Premier League’s top four, eight goals in their last six league games and just one win in their last four outings are not the kind of numbers which smack of a Champions League contender.

But Arsene Wenger has always been a member of the school of positive thinking and the Frenchman has been instructing his squad to look on the bright side ahead of their encounter with Bolton on Saturday.

Wenger insists Arsenal can play an active part in the title race, despite all the evidence pointing to the contrary, and hopes the confidence gained from a six-game unbeaten run – a sequence, admittedly, that includes three draws – will fuel his side’s new year charge.

Arsenal do not appear a side flooded with self-belief at the moment, and their nervy performances in recent home games against Wigan and Portsmouth – both won by single goals – suggests it will take time for the wounds caused by early-season defeats and in-fighting to properly heal.

Even Plymouth, an also ran-in in the Championship, breached the Gunners’ rearguard in their recent FA Cup third round tie at the Emirates.

In the circumstances, the visit of Bolton is hardly timely.

The Lancashire club are a perenniel problem for Wenger, who has always been unsettled by their unflinchingly muscular approach.

Gary Megson’s class of 2009 might rely slightly less on brawn than the sides assembled by Wenger’s bete noir, Sam Allardyce, but any team containing the likes of Kevin Davies and Fabrice Muamba – a former Arsenal player – will never be less than robust.

Still, Wenger’s message appears to be seeping through to at least some of his players and a fixture which would once have caused ripples of consternation to sweep across the squad is now being greeted with quiet confidence by goalkeeper Manuel Almunia.

“We have had bad moments against these sorts of teams this season – ones who put in a lot of long balls and crosses,” he admitted. “But I think the attitude of the team has changed in the last few games.

“We have found our way now and rediscovered our desire to win and show the strength of the team. We know Bolton very well and we know what to do – we showed that by beating them in the first game at their stadium earlier this season.

“Every player realises that we not only have to play with the ball but without it as well. We are practising it in training more now. Mentally, we are better prepared than two months ago I think.”

On Bolton’s part, there is no thought of diluting the style which has served them so well since they established themselves in the top flight under Allardyce.

Their abrasiveness looks set to keep them out of trouble this season, as well, although there are less welcome consequences, not least a raft of suspensions collected for excess yellow cards.

Defender Greta Steinsson and influential midfielder Kevin Nolan will both miss the trip to north London, while Muamba is also teetering on the brink of a one-match ban.

“I’m not going to change my style for anyone,” Steinsson said. “I’m not getting booked for shouting at the referee, it is just for playing football and working hard. Sometimes I get booked for it.

“We’ve got players like Kevin Davies, Fabrice Muamba and Andy O’Brien, those who really fight for the team, and if our style of play gets a booking then so be it.”