Arsene Wenger believes his young Arsenal side have a "mental toughness" which can see them take the battle for the Barclays Premier League title right down to the wire.

The Gunners host Blackburn on Monday night knowing a victory would move move them five points clear at the top of the table after Manchester United lost to rivals City on Sunday, while third-placed Chelsea also slipped up with a goalless home draw against Liverpool.

Wenger knows his young squad - led by the experience of captain William Gallas - have come a long way in the past season, and have emerged as a force again having been someway off the pace since their last title challenge back in 2004/2005.

The Arsenal boss firmly believes this group of players have what it takes to stay the course over the next four months.

"The team as a whole had a personality and a mental toughness from the beginning of the season," said Wenger.

"We were confronted with major problems and have shown resilience on every occasion."

The Arsenal boss continued: "My target is to get the best out of this team, that is where you see you job.

"We have to get the best out of them until the end of the season, and then we can let people judge how good we are or not."

Wenger believes Cesc Fabregas and the rest of his young Gunners have developed a maturity this season.

Combative midfielder Fabregas, 20, is a case in point - the Spaniard started the campaign in blistering form with seven goals from nine games and has developed a formidable partnership alongside Mathieu Flamini at the heart of the team.

Wenger believes Fabregas has been on a steep learning curve, with his football now attracting the headlines rather than his sometimes over-tenacious approach, which landed him in hot water when Arsenal hosted Blackburn in the FA Cup last season and he was involved in a confrontation with Rovers boss Mark Hughes.

Wenger, though, firmly believes those type of incidents are now behind the former Nou Camp trainee.

The Arsenal boss reflected: "They are all more mature now.

"Cesc is committed and you always like your players to have a winning attitude.

"Sometimes it can go a little bit over the top, but Cesc has behaved remarkably well this season - I cannot remember one incident.

"There was maybe a stage, for about six months, where he went a bit the wrong way, but he corrected that very well, without any special management from me.

"If I feel that the players aren't managing to do it themselves then I will help them to do it. But in his case, there was no need. He apologised and from then on there have been no problems with him.

"He is so intelligent that he realised that is not the way he wanted to go."

Arsenal have several injury worries ahead of tonight's game, including goalkeeper Manuel Almunia (virus) and defender Philippe Senderos (knee).

It remains to be seen whether centre-half Kolo Toure is rushed back from the African Nations Cup to feature in the squad.

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