Psychological frailty has been listed among Arsenal’s various achilles heels in recent years but their fine run has given Arsène Wenger confidence that a switch has flicked in a squad whose league form has verged on impeccable since January.

A victory over Swansea City tonight would be their 10th in 11 Premier League games and Wenger believes his players now approach matches expecting to win.

“The real luxury in this job is not to have a fear to lose,” he said. “Once a team has confidence and thinks they can turn up, play and we will win the game, they become different players. I do not over-rate that. You want to see a team respond under pressure and I think since January we have done that well.”

Title challenge

It has not been enough to sustain a title challenge but Wenger, whose praise of the champions, Chelsea, has generally been restrained, accepts that José Mourinho’s side has produced a rare consistency.

“The problem we had this season is Chelsea had no real blip,” he said. “They [have] lost only two games. In a normal championship I think we would have come back into the race. Chelsea lost only two games and in games like when they won at Hull and QPR, they were not at their best but could still manage a win. These are the kind of wins you have when you smell you are close to winning it.”

Availability of key players and the ensuing consistency in team selection – Arsenal have been unchanged for the past four games – have aided their rhythm but Aaron Ramsey may miss the Swansea game with a kick to the fibula. Theo Walcott, with whom the club are discussing a new contract, is among those who could step in and Wenger stressed that he is keen to have the forward's peak years at his disposal.

“He’s at the best age now, 1989 born,” he said. “Being 26 to 32 is the best age as a striker and I wouldn’t like to miss that golden age. He has worked hard and gone through difficult moments in his career. To lose a year of a football player’s career is massive.”

Wenger was referring to the knee injury that sidelined Walcott between January and November last year, since when his inability to hold down a starting place has raised the thought that he may wish to seek greater involvement elsewhere.

‘Sharp again’

“What you say to every player is that, if you do well, you play,” he said. “What happened recently is that he has been out for a year. The time to be competitive again is longer than you expect. He is now sharp again but it took him a while to get back to that level. They always think they are ready but he was not.

“He loves the club and I think he wants to stay, personally. I don’t think his desire is to leave. If then you cannot find an agreement, that has nothing to do with loyalty.” Guardian Service