Wenger - Chelsea is game of the season

Arsene Wenger says Saturday's clash with Chelsea is the most important game of Arsenal's season.

Victory at Stamford Bridge will put the Gunners one point behind Jose Mourinho's side with a game in hand and will further enhance their title chances.

The match will also mark Wenger's 1,000th in charge of the club and Wenger is confident his side can continue their promising run of form.

"The result tomorrow will be linked with the performance of the day," Wenger said. "We come out of winning 4-1 against Everton, we drew 1-1 at Bayern Munich and we won 1-0 at Tottenham.

"We are on a good run so let’s take the confidence out of this run to make another surprise tomorrow.

"It is the game of the season for us - it's as simple as that. We are in a period where every point is vital now, especially against your direct opponents. It is for us the most important game of the season now."

Chelsea qualified for the last eight of the Champions League in midweek with a comfortable 2-0 win over Galatasaray but Wenger is not convinced that their European exploits will hamper their Premier League ambitions.

"That's difficult to know if it will have an impact at the end of the season, but tomorrow it will not have an impact because they had a game that was not very demanding against Galatasaray.

"You cannot say they [Chelsea] are favourites or not, but they are among the teams who are fighting to win the Premier League, nobody can deny that.

"If you look at the table, what is very interesting is you have Manchester City, you have Chelsea, you have Liverpool and you have Arsenal - that has not happened for years to fight for the Premier League. That makes it really interesting. None of these four teams can say they are not going for it, that would be stupid."