Resilient Arsenal refuse to lie down

First place, though, could be short-lived as Manchester United are in action at Wolverhampton Wanderers later in the day. But whatever happens at Molineux, Arsenal's resilience this season has been admirable.

A crushing 3-0 home defeat by Chelsea at the end of November left them 11 points off the pace, yet they fought back to top the table seven weeks later.

"People were saying we were not good enough but we kept the confidence really high because we know we have the players and the quality to do it," defender Gael Clichy said this week.

"Of course, when you find yourself 11 points behind the leaders you ask yourself: 'It's going to be really difficult. Are we capable of doing it?' and a few weeks later you find yourself back in the title race and that's a good feeling.

"So that shows you the character in the squad and, once again, with the players we have, I'm sure we can do it."

"The title race will be tight until the end but this group is so strong mentally and have a unity so Aaron's injury will give us one more reason to fight until the end and do it for him," said manager Arsene Wenger said.