If Arsenal were allowing themselves a smug grin at the chaos enveloping Chelsea, it was wiped from their faces yesterday when Alisher Usmanov upped the ante in his potential takeover of the club. The Russian billionaire said that he intends to buy a “blocking stake” in the Barclays Premier League leaders.

Red and White Holdings, which is joint-owned by Usmanov and Farhad Moshiri, his business partner, has a 21 per cent shareholding in Arsenal. But it was reported in the Russian media yesterday that Usmanov intends to take it to at least 25 per cent plus one share. Should he reach 29.9 per cent, he would be obliged to make an offer.

“I want to be in a position that will allow me a blocking stake,” Usmanov, a metals magnate worth an estimated £5.5 billion, said on a broadcast with the Ekho Moskvy radio station. “I will then wait for it to go up in value.”

A “blocking stake” would be high enough to make the corporate running of the club more awkward. “It refers to a stakeholding that would make it difficult for the club to do what it wants,” Harry Philp, of Hermes Sports Partners, the football finance consultant, said. “It is tied up with Arsenal’s corporate structure and the fact that there will be certain actions where the club will need a level of shares behind it before it can go ahead.”

David Dein, the former Arsenal vice-chairman and chief powerbroker, is the chairman of Red and White and is likely to prove a key figure in any takeover negotiations. Usmanov paid Dein about £75 million for his 14.58 per cent shareholding in August and increased his stake when buying another tranche of shares this week.

Arsène Wenger, the Arsenal manager, said that he was unconcerned by Usmanov’s apparent growing influence in the club. “I am totally relaxed because I just want to work in the way I work,” Wenger said yesterday. “If that is not possible, I will have to assess the situation. But, at the moment, I work as I want to work.”

Wenger also avoided the temptation to gloat over the state of flux at Chelsea after the departure of José Mourinho, their manager, on Thursday. Instead, he offered his support to Avram Grant, the director of football who has succeeded Mourinho at Stamford Bridge. Wenger was also relatively unknown in this country when he joined Arsenal from Nagoya Grampus Eight, the Japanese club, in 1996.

“I think that Avram has the quality to do it,” Wenger said. “He has changed position - he was director of football, now he is manager – so it is a surprise. He came here [to Arsenal] to watch training when he was coach of Israel [from 2002 to 2006] and he is a very intelligent man with a big knowledge of the game. He has the resources, he has the players, he has the knowledge. He will certainly be successful.”

With Arsenal top of the Premier League, and after an impressive 3-0 win over Seville in the Champions League this week, Wenger could afford to be relaxed. Many critics had predicted that, with Thierry Henry, their captain, having decamped to Barcelona during the summer, Arsenal would struggle.

Wenger believes that his team are reaping the benefits of placing team unity above the importance of the individual. “This team is very together because they have started the season well,” he said.

“They suffered last year. They were hit and they experienced pain. Now they have gone through difficult periods together and they are more mature. They are experiencing what it means to have team pleasure and you have to make sure that success doesn’t disrupt that and doesn’t individualise the spirit of your players. The modern game can do that.”