Kolo Touré has paid tribute to Arsenal’s indefatigable spirit and the leadership qualities of William Gallas, their “maestro,” for maintaining the club’s dominance of the Barclays Premier League. In spite of suffering a rash of injuries, Arsène Wenger’s side remain unbeaten in domestic football this season and have grasped a four-point lead at the top of the table.

Key players such as Cesc Fàbregas, Alexander Hleb, Mathieu Flamini and Robin van Persie have been an irregular presence during the past four fixtures – none of the quartet will return for Sunday’s match away to Middlesbrough – yet rival teams have found little succour from the stand-ins.

Wenger’s team did not approach their formidable best on Wednesday night in the 1-1 draw at Newcastle United, but pleasure could be taken from their willingness to meet physicality head-on. “That was a game we could have lost last season,” Touré, the defender, said. “I think we have more resolve now and we are defending a lot better as a team.”

It is a rugged form of excellence rarely associated with their free-flowing football and Touré credits Gallas as their inspiration. The centre back was presented with the onerous task of replacing Thierry Henry as captain last summer, but the Frenchman’s response has fully vindicated Wenger’s decision, particularly when Fàbregas, who has enjoyed a brilliant start to the season, has been missing.

“It’s a collective thing but in any team you have a maestro and, at the moment, William is doing that really well,” Touré said. “He is the captain and you can see how he leads the team. With all the experience he’s got, because he’s 30, he’s played in a lot of teams and won a lot of trophies. Now he is using that to help us try to get what we want. We all have to listen to him on the pitch.

“The main thing is that we are all working really hard as a team. We all try to help each other. We are all human; at times in a game, we will be tired or struggling a bit, and that’s when you need your friends to say, ‘Come on, we want to make it’. We all say that to each other and having that spirit in the team and the squad is a big thing.

“You can always lose your focus for one minute in a game and that’s when you need your friends to be there for you, to shout at you, ‘Come back to the game’. To know that is there gives you the focus you need and the strength to get back in the right frame of mind. At the moment, we’re doing that all together, from the ’keeper through to the strikers and it is making a difference.”

Comparisons made to Arsenal’s “Invincibles” team of 2003-04 are as inevitable as they are deflected. “What happened in the past is the past,” Touré said. “It’s true we did very well then because we didn’t lose for 49 games, but this is a new season with a lot of new players. We’re trying to get as many points as we can because we are trying to go through and be at the top of the league.

“At the moment, we’re there. We are just trying to stay there. It is difficult because we are playing against good teams and that means you cannot expect three points every game. But we were happy to leave Newcastle with one point. It is tough to go there and get anything, let alone win. I think we did well.”

According to the Ivory Coast international, Arsenal are thriving after being dismissed as underdogs at the start of the season. “Everybody was certain that we wouldn’t be top of the league, but I think we’ve proved a few people wrong,” he said. “It’s good to be like that. Sometimes when people think a lot of you, then you can struggle to live up to that. But we just focus on our game and try to get as many points as we can.”