Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has rejected claims the Premier League title is beyond the Gunners this season.
Manchester United defender Rio Ferdinand recently suggested the Gunners have left themselves with too much work to do after trailing leaders Liverpool by eight points.
Arsenal failed to close the gap when they could only draw 1-1 at Middlesbrough over a weekend when all the sides above them also dropped points - only to be leap-frogged by Aston Villa, leaving the Gunners in fifth.
However, Wenger's men have already beaten both direct rivals United and Chelsea, while the Reds visit the Emirates Stadium in the Sky Sports Super Sunday clash this weekend.
The Gunners boss insists with half of the Premier League matches still to be played in the New Year, his young side still have plenty left to play for.
"The team is improving, and if you look at the Middlesbrough game, we did have chances to score as well as being more stable defensively," Wenger told the club's official website on Tuesday.
"I am confident we will come back and catch some ground before Christmas and then push on."
"I believe this team is not far off and can get there as much as the team in 2004.
"That is the question we want to answer in the next month, to not only show that we have potential, but that we can respond to the expectation level of our fans.
"At the moment, we swim a bit against the stream because we do not feel that (outside) around the team has the same belief as we do inside.
"We can understand that and take in on board because we lost some games which we should not have lost.
"But we have a few months in front of us now to show we were right to believe in our strengths and that we can be compared to the teams of such a quality in 2004 and maybe even aim to be stronger."
The Gunners boss will continue to stay positive, even if the critics continue to write Arsenal off as serious title challengers.
"The only thing you can do when you are under stress is to focus on what you do well, try to look at the problems and how to sort them out and forget about the consequences of it," he said.
"You have to live 100% in the present and not imagine the consequences in case of failure."
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