Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger is calling for consistency from his players ahead of their English Premier League match against Newcastle on Sunday.

Wenger admits his side has had a tough stretch of matches, but if they want to be real title contenders they need to get a result against a good Newcastle side.

Newcastle are six points and five lace below second placed Arsenal on the league table and they will not be an easy side to at home.

Wenger, though is confident in his troops and expects them to be consistent enough to grind out a result which will see them back to the top of the Premier League.

“We want to stay in the race,” said Wenger.

“We have won at West Ham [3-1 on Boxing Day] and we go game by game with a big ambition, but we know as well that in the Premier League you always set high standards, and as soon as you drop a fraction, you are in trouble.

“It is down to consistency and until now we have been consistent.

“You are always judged on your last result, but at the end of the day it is down to how consistent you will be.

“We have just had some games that were very difficult because we played against Everton at home, we played in Naples (in the Champions League), we played at Manchester City and against Chelsea, so you know that you could drop some points there.

“But the most important thing is to come back and be consistent, as you would expect from us.”

“What you want is to fight for the championship and at the moment we are in the race and what can keep us in the race is consistency.”