Arsene Wenger insists it would be "criminal" to suggest the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Alexander Hleb could not secure their title ambitions with Arsenal - and warned moving to other top European clubs such as Real Madrid would offer "no guarantee" of success.

The Gunners returned to winning ways on Saturday when they defeated relegation battlers Reading 2-0 at Emirates Stadium.

The 2-0 victory - courtesy of Emmanuel Adebayor's 27th goal of the season and a deflected effort by Gilberto - boosted Arsenal's chances of overhauling Chelsea to claim runners-up spot with four points the difference and three left to play.

Yet after another campaign which promised so much but once more failed to deliver any silverware, thoughts are already turning to potential developments in the summer aimed at making the Gunners able to last the course next time around.

Even though Wenger insists his priority is to keep the current squad together, reports continue to link key men Fabregas and Hleb with big-money transfers to a number of top European clubs, while the future of out-of-contract midfielder Mathieu Flamini - currently sidelined by injury - has yet to be resolved.

The Arsenal manager, though, remains convinced this current crop can eclipse the achievements of his previous squads, which won the club's last league title in their unbeaten season of 2003/2004.

Wenger declared: "You can go to Real Madrid and Barcelona, but you have no more guarantees to win trophies.

"From this season we should get the belief we can win trophies and come back to win the title."

Wenger insisted: "It would be criminal not to believe we could do it because we were so close this year.

"We could have gone unbeaten this season as well as we only lost three games, and if you look at how we lost them, we were not far from that level [of consistency].

"That is why I am so insistent that I keep this team together and that we try to come back and have a good go next year.

"We have a very young team with a great future."

Arsenal's immediate focus, though, is on securing maximum points from their final three games which could yet prove enough to overhaul Chelsea, who host leaders Manchester United next Saturday.

Midfielder Gilberto insisted: "We must look forward because it's hard to accept that we can do nothing.

"I feel sad that we are going for second place because we wanted to be fighting for the title.

"However, as professionals, we have to go for three victories and see what happens at the end."

For beleaguered Reading boss Steve Coppell, meanwhile, the focus is on their battle for points at the other end of the table.

The Royals are in a scrap to retain their hard-earned top-flight status, and Coppell reflected: "This is pretty much the same squad as the last two seasons.

"It was my decision to challenge them again, but because they had done so well and met the challenges, I decided not to bring anyone in.

"Maybe I should have signed someone at the end of the January window.

"We always have a post-mortem at the end of the season and I'm sure lessons will be learned in that."

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