Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Arteta say that the confidence level is rising in the Arsenal dressing room. The Daily Mail reports that five wins in its last six games have helped the team leave the season's miserable start behind as it climbs the English Premier League standings.
"There is no question our confidence is returning now." Ramsey said. "We haven't had the greatest of starts to the season but, hopefully, we've turned the corner by getting a few wins on the bounce and we want to keep it going.
"It is important to keep the momentum going and, hopefully, get another win at the weekend. We've done well in Europe so far so we just want to keep the momentum going in the League."
Arsenal defeated Olympique Marseille 1-0 in UEFA Champions League play on Wednesday. Its 2-1 win over Sunderland last Saturday pushed them up to 10th place in the EPL. The Gunners' recent form contrasts starkly their early season run that netted just one win from the first five league games.
Arteta points to defensive improvement for the turnaround in results. The addition of German international Per Mertesacker has helped solidify a leaky back line. The imminent return of defender and vice-captain Thomas Vermaelen can only improve things at the back.
"Defensively we have improved so much and in the second half they hardly created anything.” He said of the road win in France. "We were much more compact and that comes from the work we've been doing in training. Hopefully we can build on that because we know we've got the talent and with this togetherness around the team we’re going to get good results."
"We know we are capable of creating chances and now we are doing the basics right. Everybody is working hard, we are getting the ball back quickly and when that happens it is difficult to beat us."
Arsenal has two home games -– against Stoke City and Bolton -– before a trip across London to face Chelsea on Oct. 29. That will stand as a true test of the progress manager Arsene Wenger's bunch has made since its disastrous start to the campaign.