Boss - February is a big month for us

Arsene Wenger says the next few weeks can be “pivotal but not decisive” to Arsenal’s title challenge.

The Gunners sit third in the Premier League ahead of Tuesday’s fixture against Southampton, just three points behind leaders Leicester City.

Arsenal have failed to win their last three league games but, with a number of players returning from injury, Wenger is confident his team can get back to their free-flowing best at Emirates Stadium.

“The [coming weeks] can be pivotal but not decisive,” he said. “They will give a clear indication of the strength of the teams and who can cope with the importance of the games. At the end of the day somebody will win and the team who will win has to go through the important games with strong performances.

“It’s a big month for us. I am quite confident, having everybody available, that we can do very well. What is important now is for us to be capable of focusing and coping with that kind of expectation level.

“I don’t feel that we have really struggled recently because we had two difficult away games with Stoke and Liverpool and we didn’t lose. We had a bad result against Chelsea and of course, if you put the three results together, it looks like we’ve struggled but overall the Chelsea result is under special circumstances.

“If you take the history of our season, we started with a defeat against West Ham and the way we responded and where we are today shows that this team has the capability of responding under pressure. I’m sure that we will show that in February.”