If D-Day is not quite upon the Barclays Premier League, it is not far away. Yet if the rivals of Arsenal believe that the North London side will crumble first, they can think again. Arsène Wenger could not have been in more positive mood as he assessed the championship run-in yesterday.

There were no Churchillian speeches from the Arsenal manager, no cheap gibes at Sir Alex Ferguson, Avram Grant or Rafael BenÍtez, his illustrious peers in the four-pronged assault on the title. Just quietly measured confidence from the Frenchman, a steely inner resolve that declared: “We will not bottle it.”

When Arsenal trot out to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge tomorrow, Wenger believes that the evidence will be impossible to miss. “Believe me, we have the strength of character to win the title,” he said. “That’s my belief, my firm belief, and, at the game on Sunday, you will see.

“Since the first day of the season, I have said that I believe in this team. Come back in May and we will speak about it then. Until you win, people have doubts about you, they’re questioning you. But the strong ones keep going.

“I feel that since the beginning of the season, we have been the most consistent team. We have lost just one game. If we win our big games and continue to be consistent, I’m sure we will finish in front of the other sides. I cannot imagine that we will lose the league if we have lost only one game at the end of the season.”

So there. A defiant rallying call to his troops: “We will not be the ones to break first.” First, though, Arsenal have to arrest a mini-slump of four successive draws – against Birmingham City, Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic and Middlesbrough – that has allowed Chelsea to close the gap between them to two points.

The loss of Eduardo da Silva, the Croatia striker, in the match against Birmingham at St Andrew’s has taken its toll, psychologically, but Wenger feels that his players have recovered from the horrors of seeing Eduardo’s twisted leg. “We had a little slow-down after Birmingham,” he said. “But I feel that now, in training, we are over that. This is a good opportunity for us to show that.

“What’s interesting in ‘Grand Slam Sunday’ is that all four teams [Manchester United play Liverpool at Old Trafford earlier in the day] have a very good reason to try to win the game. Chelsea are in that position, we are in that position, Liverpool and United as well. It promises to be a very exciting Sunday, with all four teams in a must-win game.

“I expect Chelsea to play well against us but I think that we will win the game if we play well. Let’s focus on us. On us winning the game and not expecting any weakness of Chelsea. Let’s try for us to be at our best again.”

Wenger will attempt to evoke the spirit of the San Siro, where – this month and sandwiched in between the four draws – Arsenal defeated AC Milan 2-0 to progress to the quarter-finals of the Champions League. That Chelsea are unbeaten in 77 league matches at home is another incentive. And it was, after all, Arsenal who last won there, 2-1 in February 2004.

Adding extra spice is the subplot of Ashley Cole, the Chelsea left back, playing against his former club. Cole escaped a red card for his wild tackle on Alan Hutton in the 4-4 draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane on Wednesday night and also petulantly turned his back on Mike Riley as the referee tried to caution him.

Should Cole have been sent off? “Do you think the opposite?” Wenger replied. “Nobody thinks the opposite, but that’s part of the decision of the referee. On the tackle, at full speed, it’s very difficult to see what Ashley did.

“But I’m not sure if he wanted to hit him [Hutton] where he did. It can be a complete accident but you can only see it on the replay. Yes, Ashley should be playing [tomorrow] because he has not been punished. But, no, he’s not a dirty player. For me, Ashley is not a dirty player.”

London pride

In the past six seasons, these teams have finished as the top two in the league (Arsenal first, Chelsea second in 2004; Chelsea first, Arsenal second in 2005), in the FA Cup (Arsenal 2 Chelsea 0 in 2002 final) and in the League Cup (Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1 in 2007 final).

Chelsea have won only two of their past 24 league games against Arsenal. From August 2004 to January 2006, Chelsea averaged 2.6 points per league game (a rate of 99 points per season). Since then they have averaged 2.1 per league game (81 points per season).

Chelsea are unbeaten in 97 home domestic games (excluding a loss in a penalty shoot-out). Of the 330 Arsenal starting places in their 30 Barclays Premier League matches this season, only seven have been filled by an Englishman – six by Theo Walcott and one by Justin Hoyte.

John Terry, Frank Lampard and Didier Drogba have appeared in the same Chelsea starting lineup in only five league games this season. Six of William Gallas’s past ten goals for Arsenal and Chelsea have been scored against another big-four side, including the only goal when Arsenal beat Chelsea in December.

Frank Lampard has missed ten league matches this season for Chelsea, twice as many as in the past six seasons combined. Arsenal lead Chelsea by two points, having trailed them by 15, 24 and 12 points over the past three full seasons. Arsenal have drawn four successive league games for the first time since 1998.

Words by Bill Edgar