Mikel Arteta prepares for defining moment as Arsenal face up to Premier League title deja vu

Until now there has been little doubt that Arsenal have progressed from last season. The squad is deeper in key areas and consequently it's capable of taking on all manner of challenges.

“I think, maybe they're the one team out of all of the three that are fighting [for the title], they can play any game," Luton boss Rob Edwards said earlier this month. «If it's a physical game, a footballing game, a running game, whatever it is — they've got the answer. I don't see any weaknesses.”

A run of three winless matches has not made that untrue. But the true litmus test of whether they have evolved in that most intangible of areas — mentality — will come across the course of the next few weeks.

Mikel Arteta has won all three of the cup finals he's been involved in as Arsenal manager — if you're generous enough to count the two Community Shields that is. He'll need that record on Saturday when his side travel to Wolves.

That game has now suddenly taken on the importance of the most significant match of Arteta's Arsenal tenure. That's because the Gunners cannot afford to limp over the line like they have done in the past.

Last season they won just three of their last nine games of the season. Before that it was just six in 12. They're three without a win, but Arteta knows it can't happen again.

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»I wish I had the right words today to make the players feel better," the Spaniard said in his post-match press conference after the defeat in Munich. «What me and all the coaching staff are going to do is be close to the players. I feel so grateful to be their coach and