The Gunners made their worst start to a campaign since 1974-75 and are now stuck at tenth in the table in the second half of the season.
Mikel Arteta insists it is “too early” to rule Arsenal out of top-four contention despite the team being in an uncomfortable position in the Premier League.
Arsenal experienced testing times early in the season, managing four wins and two draws from their opening 14 league games.
It was the Gunners’ worst start to an English top-flight campaign since the 1974-75 season, and the pressure was mounting on Arteta with his team looking set for a relegation battle.
However, they have undergone a sort of resurgence in recent times – unbeaten in their previous seven league outings and 16 points picked up from the last 18.
The north London side are eight points adrift of the top four heading into Tuesday’s match against Wolves, and Arteta believes his rejuvenated team can achieve Champions League qualification.
“I think it’s too early [to be ruled in or out] because there are a lot of points, you have to be consistent,” the Arsenal boss said, via Evening Standard.
“You don’t just depend on yourselves so let’s stick to what we can do, what we can do better and the better we do that the bigger chance at the end of the season there will be to fight for that.
“There are things that are not really in our control at the moment, but many of them are and that’s the things that we have to do as well as possible.
“You see the results every weekend and you go: ‘Wow, very surprised’. And most of the time it’s not one or two, it’s more than that.
“It tells you how difficult the season has been for everybody and how much things can change.
“Look for example at Man City, where they were two-and-a-half months ago and where they are right now and you cannot believe it, but that’s the reality in this league.
“I think it’s the case of the competition in this league and the amount of mistakes that we make for ourselves in crucial moments of games that leads to the team losing those games.
“The moment we corrected that we were much stronger. I think confidence is a big factor and if you’re losing games and cannot explain why then players tend to have bad fears sometimes, or not be that convinced that they can actually win every single game.
“But when you get into a good run of form then it’s completely the opposite and it’s what is happening at the moment.”
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