Gunners are ready to battle for the title, says Wenger

ARSENE WENGER said Arsenal are ready to battle their way to the title – and challenged his team to extend their lead at the top of the Barclaycard Premiership table over Christmas.

Tottenham midfielder Steffen Freund had suggested that the best way to unsettle the Gunners was to press them hard with a physical approach.

However, Wenger scoffed at the idea that his team could be pushed aside, even though they will again be without captain Patrick Vieira and striker Dennis Bergkamp at home to Middlesbrough today.

“If teams want us to battle, we will battle,” he vowed. “My players can adapt to that without any problem. They realise they have to do that and they will do it.”

Victory against Boro would ensure that Arsenal were top of the table on Christmas Day for the first time since the Premiership began, already having their best points tally at this stage in that 11-year period.

They are also already four points ahead of last season, when they went on to win the double, and Wenger warned that Robert Pires and Fredrik Ljungberg are close to recovering their best form again.

“This is where we want to be, in our best position around Christmas, even though we have not been completely up to our level recently,” he said.

“It’s getting serious now and important, so let’s go for it. We are conscious that we want to extend our lead, to put our foot on the pedal and be positive.

“We had a bit of a dip in form in November but we’re slowly getting back. The players are highly focused again and they want to win the title.

“It’s very tight and very interesting and it will be down to the most consistent team.

“But the positive things are that we are top of the league, we have played all the away derbies in London and at Manchester United. So it’s down to us and how well we play.”

While Pires has started to recapture the form which won him the player of the year award last season on his return from long-term injury, Ljungberg is taking more time to recapture his sparkle following his own fitness problems.

“Robert is quite surprising. I didn’t expect him to be back at a competitive level until January, but he is making progress from week to week,” added Wenger.

“As for Freddie, it’s more down to the team’s form. He makes his runs and it depends how much we’re dominating the games. He puts his work in though so I’m not concerned about either of them as I feel they’re coming back to their best.”

Wenger, meanwhile, expressed satisfaction at Bergkamp’s punishment of a reprimand and £5,000 fine after being found guilty of improper conduct following his alleged stamp on Blackburn’s Nils-Eric Johansson.

“I was very pleased with the decision. Dennis shouldn’t have done it but there was no malicious attack,” he said.

“The FA are quite hard on reactions by players, especially with us. So we take it. They must think we make a lot of money here!”

Wenger is now hoping the FA decide either not to charge Martin Keown following his recent Old Trafford clash with Ruud van Nistelrooy or treat him similarly leniently.

“I expect him to get off, of course. If you look well at what Keown has done, it was not a lot,” he added.