Just three points separate the country's top three sides after Middlesbrough blew the race wide open yesterday with a shock 2-1 win over Arsenal.

It was the Gunners' first domestic defeat of the season and capped a north-east double-whammy for Wenger and his team, who were held to a 1-1 draw at Newcastle on Wednesday night.

Had Arsenal won both games, they would boast a six-point lead today.

Instead, they are one more bad result away from surrendering top spot to champions Manchester United.

Despite seeing the league's final unbeaten record sunk at the Riverside yesterday, Wenger was composure personified when asked about its implications for the championship race.

"What can I say? It will be tight," he smiled.

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 wholly 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 would walk into Wenger's starting XI and whether yesterday's defeat remains a one-off will depend on how quickly he can get these pivotal players out of the treatment room.

His seven-day prognosis is mixed.

"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."

Opposite number Gareth Southgate, who admitted taking a leaf out of Newcastle's book, acknowledged his side's task was made less daunting by the absence of Fabregas and Hleb in particular.

But he believes there was more than one reason Boro succeeded where they had failed in 11 previous games.

"I think when we play some of the bigger teams here, there's a feeling of less expectation," he said.

"We felt ourselves as a group that it was a good opportunity. But I think the fans come to enjoy the occasion and there's a bit less pressure.

"When you can get a positive start as well and play in the way that we did, it keeps the stadium bouncing and that was crucial to the win."

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

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

Wenger touted Southgate as a potential England manager last week, a revelation that raised more than a few eyebrows.

If it was said in a bid to soften him up, it clearly did not work.

Wenger insists his sentiments were genuine, and they certainly carry more weight after yesterday's result.

"I'm not (being) polite, but I feel he's dealt well with the situation in a crisis," Wenger said.

"I've told you many times, I've more confidence in the English managers than you."