Arsenal’s problems increased yesterday when William Gallas joined Mikaël Silvestre on the club’s injury list for the next three weeks. The Frenchmen have developed into the club’s first-choice central-defensive pairing recently, although Silvestre has also provided cover for Gaël Clichy at left back, leaving Arsène Wenger with a selection headache for tomorrow’s visit of Bolton Wanderers.

The Arsenal manager is likely to respond by partnering Johan Djourou with Kolo Touré, who is available again after a groin strain, but will miss Silvestre’s strength in the air against a physical side such as Bolton. Denilson is also available after a back injury and is likely to return to the side in central midfield.

“Kolo and Denilson will be back available,” Wenger said. “However, unfortunately we have lost William Gallas with a hamstring problem. We lost Silvestre, too, with a thigh problem last week as well. So we have lost two players from the game [against Plymouth Argyle in the FA Cup third round] on Saturday, but we have gained two back. I think Gallas and Silvestre will be out for three weeks.”

Wenger insists he is not too concerned, however, claiming that Arsenal are improving defensively after conceding some sloppy goals at the start of the season. Such defensive rigour was not in evidence when they let slip a 2-0 lead late on to draw away to Aston Villa on Boxing Day, but they did look relatively comfortable in subsequent home wins over Portsmouth and Plymouth.

“We have definitely become more solid over the last few weeks,” Wenger said. “As a team we are better defensively and I also think that the creative spark will come back quickly, as confidence builds.

“When you can be consistent, the confidence returns and with that the creative side of the game will come. We have made a small change to the structure of the team lately, which has helped us to be more solid defensively.

“We have included more defensive players in the team, which I felt was needed, especially away from home. However, the other side of that is, inevitably, you create less. There is always a balance to be achieved, but we are getting it because with just one up front at Villa Park, we scored twice and could have had more.”

Arsenal, in fifth, trail Liverpool, the Barclays Premier League leaders, by ten points and should be more concerned about catching Villa, who are three points and a place ahead of them, but Wenger is convinced that they can still win the title, a view supported by Emmanuel Adebayor. “It’s a question of confidence,” the Togo striker said. “At the moment when we take the lead we are scared. We tremble until the final whistle because the team is young and we have conceded several goals in the last few minutes of matches. We haven’t been on top form since the start of the season. Perhaps we’ll perform better towards the end.”