It would probably take an army of the world's leading psychologists to get inside the mind of William Gallas, who appears to switch from angry young man to detached philosopher in the blink of an eye. Given his public outpouring of rage after Arsenal's 2-2 draw with Birmingham City last month, the France defender's relaxed attitude to his team's costly defeat by Chelsea last weekend was more extraordinary, suggesting an individual whose moods are even more inconsistent than his performances.

The essence of Gallas's message to his team-mates seems to have been that they can recover from a wretched run of one win in eight matches to challenge for the Barclays Premier League title, although, given the indifferent manner in which his clarion call was delivered, it was difficult to establish whether or not he cared. Gallas's calmness under pressure has often been one of his most enduring qualities, but for the captain of a team who have turned a five-point lead at the top of the table into a six-point deficit within weeks, he seemed rather too relaxed. Certainly for the Arsenal fans, who refused to suffer in silence at Stamford Bridge.

“Why do we have to be down?” Gallas said. “Football is like this. Sometimes you are angry, sometimes you are not angry. They [Manchester United, the leaders] can lose some points. We have to be ready for the next game and do not give up. We can still win it. It is not finished yet, so we have to believe.”

Gallas did accept that Manchester United are overwhelming favourites to retain their title, while even Chelsea, his former club, who are a point ahead of them, cannot be discounted.

“It will be difficult for us to come back because Manchester United now have a six-point lead, but we have to,” he said. “We must play until the end of the season and then see. Maybe they can drop some points because of the Champions League, they can be tired, Chelsea, too. We have to give everything until the end.

“It was difficult to accept we lost to Chelsea because we scored the first goal and then they equalised. From then on, it was really difficult for us to be strong. We have to forget about everything now and be focused for the next game. We made some mistakes and sometimes it is difficult to understand. Normally, we do not do things like this. But if you do not have the luck, it is not easy.”

Run-ins for top three

Manchester United

Saturday: Aston Villa (h). April 6: Middlesbrough (a). April 13: Arsenal (h). April 19: Blackburn Rovers (a). April 26: Chelsea (a). May 3: West Ham United (h). May 11: Wigan Athletic (a).

Chelsea

Sunday: Middlesbrough (h). April 6: Manchester City (a). April 14: Wigan Athletic (h). April 19: Everton (a). April 26: Manchester United (h). May 3: Newcastle United (a). May 11: Bolton Wanderers (h).

Arsenal

Saturday: Bolton Wanderers (a). April 5: Liverpool (h). April 13: Manchester United (a). April 19: Reading (h). April 28: Derby County (a). May 3: Everton (h). May 11: Sunderland (a).