The controversial veteran French defender was unceremoniously axed from the trip to Manchester City and stripped of the armband following public criticism of the squad and revelations of apparent unrest in the dressing room.

However, Wenger restored Gallas to the team, now under new skipper Cesc Fabregas, for the midweek Champions League victory over Dynamo Kiev at Emirates Stadium and praised the 31-year-old for his approach in what have been testing circumstances.

With Gallas no doubt set to come in for plenty of jeers from the Stamford Bridge faithful he once served, the Gunners boss believes his former captain's strength of character will show through.

"For me, William comes out of the situation with a lot of credit," said the Arsenal manager.

"He is as committed as ever, he organises well his defence in training, he works very hard, and I think it is a credit to him."

Wenger added: "What gets you through everything is your focus on what you love the most - to win the game.

"When you are on the football pitch, no matter what people say, you do not even hear it.

"I believe that a player sometimes will not know that it rained after the game because he is so focused on the game and you forget everything around you."

Wenger accepts his men now face a battle to fight their way back into the Barclays Premier League title race, but maintains they must keep believing.

The Gunners head to Stamford Bridge some 10 points off the pace following five defeats already, and another at the hands of Luiz Felipe Scolari's side would all but end dreams of a first championship since the Invincibles campaign of 2003/2004.

Wenger accepts the Gunners now have to reproduce their form in 'direct confrontations' against their title rivals as they look to build on the home win over Manchester United - their last victory in the Premier League.

"We want to get back into it and the only way to get back into it is to win the game on Sunday," declared the Arsenal boss, who hopes to have Samir Nasri, Bacary Sagna and Togo striker Emmanuel Adebayor available again.

"I believe seeing the other teams play, we know we can beat them and that is the only way to get back into it."

Wenger accepted: "We are written off. You cannot say when you are 10 points behind that we are favourites to win the championship, but you can say as well the only way we can get back into it is to believe we can."