Gunners set for

STRONG CAMPAIGN THE CHASE IS ON

BURNLEY, UNITED KINGDOM: Arsene Wenger has cause to regret Arsenal’s indifferent start to the season after his side belatedly hauled themselves into the Premier League title race.

Last weekend’s emphatic 4-1 defeat of Liverpool moved the Gunners up to second and victory at second-bottom Burnley on Saturday will close the gap on leaders Chelsea to four points, the day before Jose Mourinho’s side travel to face QPR.

The distance between the top two, together with Chelsea having a game in hand, means it would take an extraordinary turnaround for Arsenal to overhaul their capital rivals.

But there is no doubt Wenger’s side have built impressive momentum since the New Year’s Day loss at Southampton, winning 15 of 17 games in all competitions.

That has allowed them to overhaul Manchester United and City and all but guarantee their place in next season’s Champions League but Wenger admitted their season was shaped by a disjointed opening half of the campaign.

“We had a difficult start this season compared to last year. This season we had many players Jose Mourinho’s

available from the remaining

out for four or five months after the World Cup and since we have found our cohesion with everybody back, we feel we have moved forward,” he said.

“I just think we are at a stage of the season where we took off in January, because we had

nearly everybody available. That made us more efficient,” the Frenchman added.

FA Cup holders Arsenal are set for an exciting end to the season as they are also in the last four of the knockout competition.

“We look behind us and people

are chasing us, in front of us there’s quite a big distance with Chelsea but we work very hard to reduce that,” said Wenger.

“What we want is to go as high as we can until the end of the season, give our best and we are also in the semifinals of the FA Cup.”

The Kevin Keegan managed side were four points clear of Manchester United at this stage of the 199596 season, but they had already seen a 12-point lead dwindle in the second half, and that only continued until they eventually finished four points behind the Red Devils.

TV TIMINGS: Swansea v Everton, live on Star Sport 4 & HD4, 5:15pm; Tottenham v Aston Villa, live on Star Sport 4 & HD4, 7:30pm; Burnley v Arsenal, live on Star Sport 4 & HD4, 10:00pm; Also playing: Southampton v Hull, Sunderland v Crystal Palace, West Brom v Leicester City