Arsène Wenger insists Arsenal’s form will play a far more significant role in Sunday’s clash against Chelsea than any history between the sides.
The Gunners have won their past nine games in all competitions, and have a chance to close the gap on the league leaders this weekend.
Arsenal are hoping for their first win in their 13th game against Jose Mourinho, but Wenger told the Arsenal website that his team’s recent run gives cause for optimism.
“We have not always lost, first of all, in 12 attempts. We have come close to beating them a few times and they’ve always had very strong teams,” he said.
“I’m not a great believer in history. I just think football is down to the fact that the performance on the day will decide the game and the result, so let’s focus on that.
“We are on a good run and we have an opportunity to beat them at home, and we want to take it. From a good run of form you get a good belief and we have good solidarity. We know we have passed many tests recently where we were questioned.
“It’s the first time we’ve won away from home against Manchester City [in a while] and other things like that. We have passed many tests and we have another test on Sunday that we want to pass.
“It is very important for us to beat them. I think everybody on board is highly focused to achieve it. We will prepare well to do that.
“Chelsea have been very, very efficient on counter-attacks, very efficient on set-pieces as well, so to nullify their strengths will be important.
“They have been very consistent until now. They are the team that have lost less games than any other team so the Premier League rewards the consistency and on that front, they have been defensively very strong and very consistent.”