The north Londoners have endured a troubled spell, which culminated in the axing of captain William Gallas after his public criticism of the squad and has seen them lose successive league games to drop 10 points off the pace.

However, Arsene Wenger's men recorded a morale-boosting win over Dynamo Kiev in midweek, when they were led by new skipper Cesc Fabregas, to secure a place in the last 16 of the Champions League.

Almunia hopes everyone can now focus on the task at hand of producing consistent displays once again.

"The last two weeks have been a nightmare for us," declared the Spaniard.

"We needed to win, but we could not get the right performance and we did not know what to do.

"The win over Kiev is a step forward for the confidence of the team and against Chelsea I hope we can face them in the right way.

"Stamford Bridge is a very hard place to play, a very hard place to win - but Liverpool won there this season so why can't Arsenal do it?

"Against Manchester United we showed that with great spirit, with great fight, with concentration, with everything a footballer has to have, that we can beat anybody - but every single player has to think in every single game what to do and where we are because we are one of the top clubs in the world.

"We do not need to think in titles - we need first to come back as a great team and we will see after what we can get."

The Spanish keeper, 31, believes "calm" has now been restored to the Gunners dressing room, with the rumour mill of player unrest in over drive during the final days of Gallas' reign.

Almunia said: "It is true many problems disturbed the peace of the team.

"I hope now we have the calm back in this team and we only have to speak about football."

In 21-year-old Fabregas, Arsenal would seem to have found the model skipper - a player who commands respect for both his superb ability on the pitch and attitude to life off it.

Almunia, who has himself captained the side this season, is in no doubt Fabregas can step up to the role.

"Against Kiev, Cesc did the same as normal, maybe, though I saw in his face more responsibility, more taken on his shoulders - but he is mature enough to cope with this responsibility," he said.

"Cesc has the spirit, the ability, all which is needed to be a great captain for Arsenal.

"All he needs is to be a bit lucky and for the team to follow him in a good way.

"We will try to follow him as we tried to follow William Gallas in the past. Now is the moment of Cesc and he is going to take the chances, he is going to respond."

Wenger has called for a more collective approach to leadership within the squad.

Almunia feels everyone can pull together to help move the side in the right direction.

"It is true that Cesc is one of the symbols of the team, but a captain is nothing without other team-mates," he said.

"Cesc is still young and it is a big responsibility, but we are all going to help Cesc and we are going to lead Arsenal."