Arsenal need to show famed mental strength

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has spent years praising his team's mental strength and that trait faces a critical test tomorrow when the Londoners host Aston Villa in the Premier League.

Arsenal's serene progress on four fronts has been knocked horribly off course in the last five weeks and they need to stop the rot fast.

Their lukewarm interest in the FA and League Cups ended with thrashings by Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur while last week's goalless draw in the home first leg of their Champions League tie with Milan handed the initiative to the Italians.

So the Premier League has become their chief hope of silverware but even that campaign took a setback last week when the leaders were held to a 2-2 draw by 10-man Birmingham City to allow Manchester United to close within three points by thrashing Newcastle United 5-1.

Wenger will be uncomfortably aware of what happened at a similar stage last season when Arsenal went out of Europe and the FA Cup as well as losing in the League Cup final in a matter of days.

Within a month they had lost three successive league games and drawn another as what had looked such a promising season slid to an anticlimactic close.

Last weekend, Arsenal's players were visibly stunned by the extent of Eduardo da Silva's horrific injury in the early minutes of the Birmingham game and for many their hearts were not in the contest.

"Of course Eduardo has been on our minds," Walcott told the club's website ( www.arsenal.com ) on Wednesday.

"It was a quiet coach ride home and felt just like a loss in truth. We had a couple of days off and then actually went bowling to keep our team spirit up. A couple of lads went to see him yesterday and reported back to the rest of us.

"But we have tried to forget about it in a way and concentrate on Saturday."

Having also looked distracted at Old Trafford in the FA Cup, Arsenal will have to rediscover their focus as, with Manchester United facing a very winnable game at Fulham, another slip could swing the title race irretrievably towards the champions.

It will not be easy though as, after a bit of a wobble, sixth-placed Villa had good wins over Newcastle United and Reading and are back challenging strongly for the fourth Champions League place.

United have recovered from their home defeat by Manchester City impressively, scoring 10 goals in three games and have not lost at Fulham for 44 years.

Third-placed Chelsea travel across London to play West Ham United.