Wenger unmoved by close battle

The Barclays Premier League title battle is becoming as closely fought as Arsene Wenger always expected it would be.

Just three points separate the country's top three sides after Middlesbrough blew the race wide open with a shock 2-1 win over Arsenal - their first domestic defeat of the season.

Despite seeing the league's final unbeaten record sunk at the Riverside, Wenger was composed when asked about its implications for the championship race, saying: "What can I say? It will be tight."

Wenger's team were both outfought and outplayed by a fired-up Boro, who deservedly ended their 11-game winless streak thanks to an early Stewart Downing penalty and Tuncay Sanli's second goal in as many games. It meant Tomas Rosicky's unmerited stoppage-time strike achieved nothing more than maintaining Arsenal's record of scoring in every Premier League game this season.

"We lost the game because we deserved to lose it," said a magnanimous Wenger.

The past week's setbacks might cause the manager of a lesser team some sleepless nights but Wenger can justifiably write off the run as a blip. While Boro, like Newcastle days earlier, set about their task with relish, both faced an Arsenal side missing a number of key men.

Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb, Robin van Persie and Mathieu Flamini were all sidelined by injury for the match, with Wenger delivering a mixed seven-day prognosis on the quartet.

"The one who has a realistic chance is Flamini," he said. "One who could be in squad maybe - we'll see how he goes - is Van Persie. But Fabregas, we don't know at the moment."

Despite hauling Boro out of the bottom three, manager Gareth Southgate knows they will quickly slide back down the table if they fail to build on the win.

"It could easily be a false dawn if we don't follow it on," he said.