Aaron Ramsey is "positive and confident" that Arsenal can finish in the top four - but he knows a win is needed at Fulham on Saturday.
Arsene Wenger's side beat Norwich City last weekend but had to settle for a point against a resolute Everton side on Tuesday and dropped down to fourth in the Premier League after Chelsea's 3-0 win at Craven Cottage the following night.
"Tottenham and Chelsea still have to play each other. They still have tough games. The teams are going to drop points so we're still positive and confident that we can finish in the top four"
Aaron Ramsey
If Arsenal can follow suit at Fulham they will return to third place before Chelsea visit Liverpool and Tottenham entertain Manchester City on Sunday. According to Ramsey it's imperative that Arsenal keep their rivals under pressure.
"It's important [to open up a gap]," he said. "We always knew that this week was going to be a big week for us. We've got four points out of two games so far. We're still unbeaten in a load of games and hopefully now we can finish the week off strongly and get a win at Fulham which will put us in a really strong position.
"It was important for us not to lose against Everton and I think we still have a lot of confidence. It didn't quite happen for us in the final third [on Tuesday] but overall we were quite solid and we're looking forward to the weekend.
"Tottenham and Chelsea still have to play each other. They still have tough games. The teams are going to drop points so we're still positive and confident that we can finish in the top four.
"We're just concentrating on our own game and taking every game as it comes. [If we are in third place] maybe they might feel a bit of pressure going into their [next] game to try and get three points to get back above us."
Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham are leading the race for a top-four finish but Everton were impressive at Emirates Stadium and are only four points adrift of the fourth-placed Gunners. Ramsey is not ruling them out of the Champions League picture.
"I'm not so sure [Everton are out of it]," he said. "I think they've still got to play a few teams which are in and around fourth place. Teams are going to drop points so it's important for us just to keep our momentum going and win our remaining games."
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