Reasons to be cheerful: Arsene Wenger's side can still feature in the title race

He said he'd never compromise, but now he must be starting to realise. For a manager who has set so many trends, Arsene Wenger now must start breaking a few if a season of promise ­is to finally yield prizes. The first is his team's infuriating habit of losing two games on the trot. The second is Chelsea's unbeaten home record – which his Arsenal admittedly did last season, being the first to rip apart Felipe Scolari's reputation in England in the process – and the third is to take the title for the first time in six years despite a demoralising, let alone inferior, record in the big four bouts.

All require a fair degree of faith – which Wenger always has even if only a percentage of his first team, after last week against Manchester United, share – but the third may yet be independent of the initial two, even if Arsenal can alter it by finally fulfilling so much potential today.

Certainly, victory at Stamford Bridge – or even a positive performance and result – would prove a season-changing statement. There are those two significant mental obstacles to overcome though. It has been said here before that Wenger's entire ethos of team-building isn't based on motivation or Alex Ferguson-style resilience but fluid integration and evolution on the training ground. So, when it comes off on the pitch, confidence is high but as soon as a single difficulty is encountered – as against United – it crumbles and the team doesn't know where to turn, requiring retreat and a period of recovery to build it up again. It's why Arsenal have such a habit of losing successive games – twice already this season – and why they've never retained the league under Wenger.

That trend would be tough enough to overcome were it not for this specific set of fixtures. Successive games against the two teams to win the Premier League since Arsenal last did and, most importantly, inflict their most dispiriting defeats of the season. And that's even taking into account the fact there's suddenly a different atmosphere about today's game after John Terry and his club's difficult trip to Hull and back. All parties suddenly have something to prove. But forget fluid integration and steady confidence-building. To get a response, Wenger may well have to resort to the tactic that brought their one big-four victory of the season: the shouting and raging at Anfield. He says he can only use it sparingly but now seems the time.

After all, both United and Chelsea accordingly altered their own attitudes at the Emirates. Despite the crushing scorelines and manner in which the two sides ultimately eviscerated Arsenal on the break, the nature of both performances should be noted. For sides whose seasons have been marked by prizing possession and bossing games, both United and Chelsea were perfectly willing to cede a majority of the ball to Arsenal, sit deep and wait to weave through them. Arsenal only looked really lacking late on. Up to the second goals, they had been very much in the games. And consider this: for Chelsea it was one of only two games this term they had less than 50% possession, for United the only occasion. And the strategic withdrawal was obvious. But then it worked perfectly.

Although there will be an expectation at home for Chelsea to attack a little more today, it could well be worth Wenger second-guessing them and telling his team to operate a little more tactically. He's done it before, after all, the last time they won a trophy in the 2005 FA Cup final when they let United barrage them and effectively played for penalties.

Likewise, a little more aggression – rather than adhesion – may be necessary in midfield. As the likes of Manchester City and United showed against Chelsea. A necessity for the Cesc Fabregas who crunched Patrick Vieira in a tackle in the 2005-06 Champions League.

When Arsenal were at their peak, after all, they had one of the worst red-card records in the league. As of the end of 2009, they topped the Fair Play table. A little bit more "anti-football" as Wenger called it in reference to Darren Fletcher, can often let purer football flourish. And he has cited Pep Guardiola's Barcelona as a clear influence this season, yet their forwards committed the most fouls in La Liga last year. Compromise does not necessarily mean selling out your principles.

However it pans out, today will be presented as another defining day for this Arsenal team. One in which they mature or again illustrate their immaturity. Yet even if Chelsea use their physique, age and effective experience in winning to do so again, it – bizarrely – need not be so definitive for Arsenal. After Liverpool on Wednesday they have a strikingly favourable run of fixtures. Before travelling to a buoyant Birmingham in April they will host Sunderland, Burnley and West Ham while travelling to Stoke and Hull. A full 15 points would be a perfectly reasonable expectation from such a run, exactly the sort of return to see confidence surging again. And the difference is that, unlike United and Chelsea, no more major face-offs await. Although it appears a little early to analyse it, they have by far the easiest run-in of all the top seven – the trickiest game a trip to Spurs in April who they already have a sign over – and this at a time for which Wenger has prepared all year, his pre-season tailored to ensure Arsenal are at peak fitness by the crucial point of the season. The difference in previous years is that it's never mattered, but a returning Robin van Persie may only change that dynamic further.

Wenger significantly alluded to such a peculiarity in his programme notes last week, admitting "I always felt that the games against the rest of the top four would determine the league, but last year Manchester United proved me wrong on that."

The key, of course, will be whether confidence reaches an irretrievable low if they lose today. As happened at the end of last season after being humbled by United in the Champions League. They need only look at the fixture list to overcome it though. It may seem a stretch, but there are trends there to be broken.