Liverpool v Arsenal: Victory for the Gunners at Anfield would deliver a big statement, says Kieran Gibbs

Gunners fullback ready for his sides' latest 'big test' at Anfield

‘We are enjoying it,’ says Kieran Gibbs of being top of the league (Danie Hambury)

Arsenal have spent more weeks at the top of the Premier League this season than all the other contenders combined. They head to Anfield on Saturday two points clear yet still some are not convinced they have the necessary attributes to last the course.

The fixture against Liverpool is one they must win, so the theory goes, to demonstrate their championship calibre. Defeats at Manchester United and City suggest a weakness in the big matches away from the Emirates.

All of this makes Kieran Gibbs smile. Put it to him that Arsenal have something to prove and he looks you in the eye and shoots straight. "It's February and we are top of the league. You have to have some kind of confidence you can win the league. That's the way we want to look at it. We have stayed top for a significant part of the season. We are enjoying it.

"We don't listen to what people say. With the greatest respect, the players in this team have only one way they want to play. It doesn't matter what people say about us, we are going to play that way anyway. We have one goal that we want to achieve. We enjoy being together and are enjoying the belief we have."

Chelsea's subordination of Manchester City on Monday, which Gibbs was not expecting, exemplified the power of positive thinking allied to iron organisation. Chelsea believed at the Etihad if few others did. Gibbs understands what the critics are saying and is not unhappy with the underdog label, but Arsenal are not travelling north feeling the need to justify themselves.

"Going up there and doing well would be a big statement, just like it was when we played them at home. We were sitting at the top of the league and people were saying, 'Ah, well this is a big test'. It will be like that every time now. We are having a positive season and we go there in a positive frame of mind. It's another exciting Premier League fixture.

"We have made a few impressions already this season but I don't think it's about that now. It's about consistency. Going in as underdogs takes the pressure off. You saw that with Chelsea at City. But we are not looking at the odds. We are just looking to win it. There is a certain resilience in this squad at the moment. That is helping a lot."

The inner strength at the core of the squad comes from being comfortable with each other. In the past Arsenal have been associated with cabals determined by passport. The split along national lines has historically been seen as divisive. Not now, according to Gibbs, who singles out Lukas Podolski as the principal conduit for togetherness.

"We have a German group, very strong, a French one and a Spanish one. In training we are all together but when we travel in hotels we tend to sit in our groups. We joke about it. Everyone gets on well. It's just a language thing. There's a lot of banter. All the Germans do is moan about the food. Podolski is always at the centre of some crack that's going on. There is something very special about him, he can really lift everyone, he's a great person."

If Podolski is the king of the diplomats, the Gunners' player of the month, Santi Cazorla, wins Gibbs' vote for outstanding talent in the group. "He is not of this planet. Just the way he plays. I have never seen anything like him before. He is a bit of a freak on a skill level."

The trip to Anfield is the first of four games in a fortnight that will go some way to determining the success of Arsenal's season. After hosting Manchester United next Wednesday they face Liverpool again in the FA Cup, followed by a Champions League date with Bayern Munich.

Bring it on, says Gibbs: "We want to put ourselves under pressure to win. You get the best out of yourself to perform that way. Everyone is in a good state of mind. Everyone enjoys the big games. This [Liverpool match] is just another big game for us to show what we can do."

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