Arsene Wenger has told his Arsenal players they must stay on the coattail of leaders Chelsea and champions Manchester United by beating basement club Portsmouth on Wednesday (Portsmouth 6/1 draw 3/1 Arsenal 1/2 Premier League – match bets).

The Cesc Fabregas-inspired Gunners brought Christmas cheer to the Emirates faithful by thumping Aston Villa 3-0 to reignite their Premier League title push (Arsenal 7/2 Premier League – Outright).

The Spain international could miss the south-coast trip because of a hamstring problem and Wenger accepts the margin for error at the top is paper-thin.

He said: “Something has deeply changed in the Premier League.”

Wenger was delighted with the manner of the victory against Martin O’Neill’s men but knows there can be no let-up from his players because of the threat posed by fellow top-four hopefuls Manchester City, Tottenham and Villa.

He added: “There are now more teams aspiring to be in the top four. Already at the start, financially the desire is there.

“The message given to the players at Manchester City, at Tottenham, at Aston Villa, is: ‘now, we want to go in there’. That has changed completely the structure.”