Laurent Koscielny and Petr Cech have an “80 per cent” chance of returning to the Arsenal team for Monday’s must-win game at Middlesbrough, Arsene Wenger said at his press conference this morning.

Arsenal have lost three of their last away games, two of them disastrously at West Bromwich Albion and Crystal Palace, and Wenger knows that they need to turn it around this Monday night. By the time Arsenal play on Monday, they could be 10 points behind Manchester City in fourth, but with two games in hand.

Wenger admitted it has “not been very enjoyable” at London Colney this week as the team tries to pick itself up from Monday’s disappointment, which is why the return of those two senior players is so important.

Arsenal's dirty dozen Show all 12 1 /12 Arsenal's dirty dozen Arsenal's dirty dozen January 31 - LOST 2-1 v Watford (H) With some big games on the horizon, Arsenal were shocked as goals from Younes Kaboul and Troy Deeney set the Hornets on their way with Alex Iwobi's reply not enough for the hosts. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen February 4 - LOST 3-1 v Chelsea (A) With Antonio Conte's Blues on fire this was always going to be difficult for Wenger and his side and they were blown away as Marcos Alonso, Eden Hazard and former Arsenal favourite Cesc Fabregas scored - Olivier Giroud hit an injury-time consolation. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen February 11 - WON 2-0 v Hull (H) An unconvincing win over the relegation-threatened Tigers proved to be just a short period of respite, the three points were sewn up courtesy of an Alexis Sanchez brace. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen February 15 - LOST 5-1 v Bayern Munich (A) Hopes of ending a six-year run of being eliminated from the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage were all-but ended in Bavaria as Arjen Robben, Robert Lewandowski, Thiago (2) and Thomas Muller all scored. Sanchez grabbed Arsenal's away goal. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen February 20 - WON 2-0 v Sutton (A) Another unspectacular win against non-league Sutton in the FA Cup, goals from Lucas Perez and Theo Walcott were enough for the Gunners to keep their hopes of winning silverware this season alive. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen March 4 - LOST 3-1 v Liverpool (A) A return to league action and a return to defeat as Jurgen Klopp's side proved too good for Arsenal at Anfield. Danny Welbeck scored the consolation for the visitors but Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Georginio Wijnaldum wrapped up the win for the Reds. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen March 7 - LOST 5-1 v Bayern Munich (H) Despite performing better against their German counterparts in the return leg, Walcott's goal was cancelled out by Lewandowski, Robben, Douglas Costa and an Arturo Vidal brace - Arsenal suffered a humiliating 10-2 aggregate loss, the biggest for an English side in the Champions League. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen March 11 - WON 5-0 v Lincoln (H) Another non-league challenger dispatched in the FA Cup to send Arsenal into the last four; Walcott, Giroud, Sanchez and Aaron Ramsey helped themselves to goals alongside a Luke Waterfall own goal. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen March 18 - LOST 3-1 v West Brom (A) With pro-Wenger and anti-Wenger planes flown over the Hawthorns, the latter would have left feeling more vindicated as Craig Dawson scored twice and Hal Robson-Kanu added a third off the bench. Sanchez had earlier equalised for the visitors. Getty Images Arsenal's dirty dozen April 2 - DREW 2-2 v Man City (H) Wenger's side showed resolve to fight back twice and take a point against their top-four rivals, with Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi equalising strikes from Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero. Arsenal's dirty dozen April 5 - WON 3-0 v West Ham (H) With some fans staying away from the opening of this London derby to protest against Wenger, Arsenal eventually showed they had the class to beat a West Ham side bereft of confidence themselves - Mesut Ozil, Walcott and Giroud got the goals. Getty Arsenal's dirty dozen April 10 - LOST 3-0 v Crystal Palace (A) Any positivity was short-lived as Sam Allardyce's Eagles soared to a comfortable victory in south London. Former Tottenham man Andros Townsend opened the scoring before Yohan Cabaye struck and a Luka Milivojevic penalty rounded off yet another forgettable night for Arsenal. Getty

“From the last game, I believe that we have a chance of getting Petr Cech back in the squad,” Wenger said at his press conference on Friday morning. “Laurent Koscielny is joining in today. If their tests are positive, they will come back into the squad for Monday’s game.

Koscielny and Cech will both be tested before the trip, and after Arsenal’s defensive collapse at Selhurst Park it is imperative that they are both back in the team. “They have an eighty per cent chance,” Wenger said. “At the moment it’s pretty good, but sometimes the 20 per cent can play a villain’s part in the final preparation.”

Wenger demanded that his players respond to Monday’s disaster, which saw the away fans turn on the players and on Wenger himself, in the best possible way. While he could not promise a win, he wants his players to believe in him again.

“In football, you have to accept that the risk is part of it and that you can win, lose or draw,” Wenger said. “What you want - the real response - is to play with total commitment and with total belief in what we do.”

What Wenger wants is belief and confidence, rather than caution, as Arsenal try to rescue their season in the final weeks. “To play with restriction and a little bit of a handbrake on doesn’t help the performance,” Wenger said. “We are under pressure to deliver and the best way to do it is to play with freedom and accept the risk. In football, when you want to play, you have to accept the risk that things can go wrong. They have more chances to go wrong if you play with a little bit of restriction in your game.”

Arsenal need a change of fortunes to turn their season around (Getty)

It might sound optimistic but Wenger knows that atmosphere can shift quickly from negative to positive, just as it has gone in the other direction recently. For Wenger the solution is the same: more confidence, more belief and more spirit.