Arsène Wenger arrived on Merseyside in defiant mood last night, telling a highly sceptical audience that Arsenal will win the Barclays Premier League and progress to the Champions League semi-finals at Liverpool's expense at Anfield this evening - a forecast that is severely at odds with the public perception of a team whose season has disintegrated over the past seven weeks.

Arsenal have won only twice in their past 11 matches in all competitions, falling six points behind Manchester United in the league and appearing to cede the initiative to Liverpool in their Champions League quarter-final after a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium. But, when forced into a corner at last night's pre-match press conference at Anfield, Wenger came out fighting, insisting that a glorious season remains in prospect.

Rafael Benítez, the Liverpool manager, had suggested earlier that it was “almost impossible” for Arsenal to win the Premier League, but Wenger suggested that the dream was not merely alive, but certain to come true. “I believe we will finish champions,” the Arsenal manager said. “The result on Sunday [United's 2-2 draw with Middlesbrough] helped a lot. If they []had won, I would have thought we couldn't, but I believe we will do it.

“We did have a dip recently. But football is strange. Defeat is not unthinkable; you have to accept you might lose. But what is important is that you believe you can win. We have the belief that we can win anywhere in the world. And if I didn't believe we could win the Champions League, I wouldn't be here.”

Wenger also had to contend with a slight dig from Benítez, who suggested that, just as there can be no excuses for Liverpool if they are eliminated this evening, Arsenal cannot cite the youth of their side in mitigation if they are left empty-handed for the third successive season.

“I don't agree with this,” Benítez said when asked whether the number of young players in Arsenal's team meant that more is expected of Liverpool. “[]Almunia is not young, []Gallas is not young, []Touré is not young, Adebayor is not young, Hleb is not young. You can talk about Fàbregas. He has played for four years at the top level. It's easy to talk about young players, but I think they have enough experience.”

Wenger, who has Robin van Persie available again after a thigh injury, agreed that his players have experience, but took issue with the suggestion that his team are not youthful. “We are young, still very young,” he said. “Adebayor, Fàbregas - I cannot say that they are old, I'm sorry. They have experience, but they're young.”

Regardless, Wenger believes that his players are strong enough to survive the inevitably raucous Anfield atmosphere. “I accept it's difficult here, because they [the supporters] are a little bit louder than anywhere else, but it's down to us to keep the crowd quiet,” he said. “We believe we can win anywhere in the world.”