Arsenal are racking up the points at a time of the season which will, ultimately, count for little; the trick for Wenger is to make sure he can replicate this form next season
Arsenal are the first team to win eight successive matches in the Premier League this season after overcoming a stout Burnley at Turf Moor. A single goal in the first half from Aaron Ramsey was enough to keep the Clarets at bay as the Londoners delivered a competent, if unspectacular, performance thereafter.
This was by no means a vintage display but that need not matter. Arsene Wenger will know titles are built on such humdrum results. One-nil to the Arsenal.
Eight wins on the trot is a mean feat in the top division but that run has come at a time of the season that, ultimately, means little. Yes, there is the top four to play for but with Manchester City struggling as they are it was never in doubt that Arsenal would do enough to take their place again among the Champions League qualifiers.
They have long since given up any pretence of a title challenge; if Chelsea win their two games in hand, starting at QPR, then they will be 10 points clear. It is hardly a title race worth mentioning.
"They are still comfortable, Chelsea," Arsene Wenger said. "We need a perfect run and we need a non perfect run from them. We cannot master that. We can only master our attitude. We want to keep winning because we have to look behind us as well."
In the big games, before the prizes were decided, Arsenal's fate as also-rans was sealed. They won only seven games before Christmas. There were damaging losses to Chelsea, to Manchester United, even to Tottenham. Injuries to key players like Mesut Ozil and Mathieu Debuchy certainly did not help but every team has to deal with enforced absences.
As such there have been questions of character asked of this Arsenal side all season long. Even their recent Champions League elimination against Monaco only further served to enhance the suspicion that when the heat is on Arsenal are nowhere to be found.
Freed from that type of pressure though and they have managed to put together a formidable, confidence-restoring run. The next task for Wenger is making sure that this same assuredness is carried through to next season when it starts all over again.
