LONDON: Arsene Wenger has billed Arsenal's meeting with Chelsea on Sunday as a chance for his current crop of Gunners to prove that they have come of age.

With Chelsea eight points clear of their London rivals, having played a game more, the encounter is potentially pivotal for Wenger's squad's aspirations of claiming their first Premier League title since the 'Invincibles' campaign of 2003-04.

A 1-0 defeat at Sunderland reduced Arsenal's margin for error at the Emirates but confidence was bolstered by a slick 2-0 Champions League win over Standard Liege in midweek.

"Everyone will look at the game to rate our potential, and I have no worries about that," Wenger said on Friday. "We are ready for the game, are well focused, prepared and the confidence is good."

"Chelsea are a strong side and have a good manager in Carlo Ancelotti, but I still believe that despite all that, we can still beat them."

The win over Standard enabled Arsenal to book their place in the Champions League knockout stage with a game to spare but it came at a price, with left-back Kieran Gibbs suffering a broken metatarsal which means he will be out for three months and centreback William Gallas left nursing a swollen eye which may rule him out of Sunday's match.

Arsenal will also be without top goalscorer Robin van Persie and Wenger acknowledged that the meeting with a full strength Chelsea represented a significant examination for his depleted squad.

"It is a big test, yes - but that is what you want, to play these teams," the Frenchman said. "I think there is a period for any team to come out and show its strengths. For my team, this moment has come.

"We are not any more a team that has to be considered to be young.

"I think we have the strengths and we can show that on Sunday that we are strong enough to compete."

Wenger gave Gallas a 50-50 chance of being ready to face his former club after a clash of heads with Andrey Arshavin during the midweek match.

Arshavin escaped relatively unscathed but Gallas went off at half-time and his eye subsequently became so swollen he was unable to put in his contact lenses.

Wenger has French youngster Armand Traore available to stand in for Gibbs, who was himself only playing for the first-team while Gael Clichy recovers from a back problem.

But losing Gallas would represent a significant blow to Arsenal's hopes of keeping Chelsea's strikers, Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka, under control.

In attack, Wenger has to decide whether to take a gamble on Theo Walcott at the head of Arsneal's three-pronged attack.

Arshavin and Samir Nasri have looked sharp in the supporting forward roles but neither Eduardo nor Carlos Vela have looked capable of leading the line as effectively as van Persie did earlier in the season.

Walcott has made two appearances from the bench since recovering from a knee injury and Wenger hinted that he might be reluctant to risk starting him in such a high-pressure encounter.

"The only thing I would say with Theo is that every time I have rushed him back he has got injured again," the manager added.

"This time I have decided to take the time to get him completely 100 percent fit to come back.

"Theo can play central, I am very conscious of that because of the quality of his runs and the timing of his runs, the other part he can work on.

"I believe he has all the assets to be a fantastic central player. What he needs to work on to play in this kind of position is the back to goal.

"At the moment his strengths are central to the counter-attacking role rather than the distribution role. That is what he has to add to his game."