Despite their draw with Aston Villa, Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger insists he believes in his current team.
Wenger maintains everyone at the club must remain "strong and patient" as they seek to regain some ground on the sides above them.
"Manchester United bought [Dimitar] Berbatov for £31.5million and you look at the cost of their team and you will understand why [they are ahead]," said Wenger.
"We can of course compete, but we have a young team and we have gone a different way.
"We go through a period where we have to accept maybe to be strong and patient a little bit.
"We are on a good run, but the big problem is once you are behind every point you drop looks like a disaster.
"However, if you look at our run in the last 10 to 12 games I feel the team is improving. We lack still a little bit of creativity and a little bit of invention but overall we are consistent, we are fighting.
"I am not negative about the team."