Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger relying on Mesut Ozil 'the silent leader' to help fire his side to Premier League glory 

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There was a time when Arsenal owned Chelsea in much the same way as Chelsea now dominate Arsenal. It was a time before Jose Mourinho, when Arsenal boasted the Invincibles.

When Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal in 1996 he didn't actually lose a Premier League game to Chelsea until August 2005. Since then? His record: played 21, won five, drawn six and lost 10.

But back in the better days, Wenger boasted a team of Jens Lehmann, Lauren, Sol Campbell, Kolo Toure, Ashley Cole, Freddie Ljungberg, Gilberto Silva, Patrick Vieira, Robert Pires, Dennis Bergkamp and Thierry Henry.

Mesut Ozil has been the standout performer for Arsenal as they aim for Premier League glory

It was extraordinarily powerful with exquisite technique and speed, but in the last 10 years Chelsea have taken on the mantle of being the team that combines muscular strength with skill and speed, while Arsenal have been lightweights to be brushed aside.

Until now perhaps. Arsenal clearly do not yet have a team to match that of 2003-04 but perhaps some comparisons can be made. Certainly Arsene Wenger thinks so.

Mesut Ozil, for example, is coming into his own and Wenger insists he is becoming something of a leader who reminds him of Bergkamp.

'Yes, he's a bit like Bergkamp,' said Wenger. 'He's not that guy who stands up and speaks too much but every time he says something it is just straight to the point. He's had a big influence. He's not an extrovert, as you know. But you don't win by coincidence and he has won in his career. He's demanding from his team-mates.'

Arsene Wenger has been relying on the German international and described him as a 'silent leader'

Vieira once described Bergkamp as 'our technical leader, the one who would bring the small magic that would help us win something'. And that description could certainly fit Ozil this season.

As Wenger points out, Ozil is a World Cup winner and a winner of La Liga at Real Madrid as well as four domestic cup finals, including two FA Cups at Arsenal.

But, like Bergkamp, who was accused of being too quiet and introverted to be truly great during his time prior to Arsenal at Inter Milan, Ozil is only now truly blossoming.

Ozil has been compared to Gunners legend Dennis Bergkamp, who was a key player for Wenger 

Tony Adams remembers challenging Bergkamp on this day back in 1998, four months before Arsenal won their first Double under Wenger.

'We're getting in the coach after the Middlesbrough game and Dennis is sitting on his own,' recalled Adams in Bergkamp's book. 'So I go to Dennis and say, 'Dennis you've been here two-and-a-half years and you haven't won anything. 

'It's time for you to win something. How much do you want it?' It looked like I got a reaction from him, physically, in his face. As I was going I was thinking, 'He might turn round and punch me'. A few months later we've won the Double, Dennis is the player of the year and he's just played the best football of his life.'

Wenger managed the Invincibles side that was unbeaten during the 2003-04 Premier League season

Bergkamp himself admitted that the confrontation with Adams sparked the best in him and that the question, 'How much do you want it?' stayed with him for life.

And Ozil seems to have reached a similar moment of epiphany this season, though in reality he needs to drive Arsenal on to the league title and win player of the year to match Bergkamp. Of the rest of the current team, Petr Cech is the match of Lehmann, and Laurent Koscielny, though a different kind of defender to Kolo Toure and Campbell, is in their class.

Alexis Sanchez would stand comparison with Pires. The rest, while good, probably do not match their predecessors, though the good news for them is that no-one else in the Premier League is anywhere near the quality of that 2003-04 Arsenal team, so they won't need to reach their level to win the league.

Key player Alexis Sanchez (left) has been likened to former Arsenal winger Robert Pires 

And Wenger, lest it be forgotten, does have a track record in league titles. He won the French league with Monaco in 1988 and the Premier League in 1998, 2002 and 2004. By comparison, Carlo Ancelotti has three league titles, Pep Guardiola five and Jose Mourinho eight. 

It may have been some time since the last but Wenger knows what it takes to get over the line. 'For us, it is to keep our fighting spirit and our togetherness,' he said. 'The qualities that have come out of our team until now are especially mental strength.

'To keep that spirit will certainly be vital for us because every game is very tight. We are not like we were before. Sometimes we had a team that had a margin of security. What has changed now is that every game is a massive fight.'

Wenger believes that his current side have what it takes to life the title this season 

Arsenal still look as though they might surrender at times when faced with the fight, though admittedly much less frequently than before. The 4-0 defeat by Southampton on Boxing Day was one such occasion. And with Gabriel being suckered into a red card in September's fixture at Chelsea, Arsenal again looked weak. At that stage of the season it seemed as if Arsenal were reverting to type.

Wenger believes Sunday's return fixture against Chelsea is a chance to demonstrate they will not. 'I believe we have shown since that game that we can do it, that we can face big fights,' said the Frenchman.

'We have to combine the fighting spirit with a relaxed attitude and controlled attitude. We have to be controlled. Discipline is very important in big games.

Gabriel was sent off earlier in the season against Chelsea and was riled up by Diego Costa 

Clearly Cech's authoritative presence, all the more galling for his former team-mates at Chelsea, has a significant influence. He has four Premier League titles; Alexis Sanchez has won the title with Colo Colo in Chile and Barcelona in Spain; Ozil has done so once with Real Madrid and Olivier Giroud with Montpellier in France. Wenger also cites Per Mertesacker, a World Cup winner, as a key influence.

'I believe we have a strong spirit but spirit is a bit like the weather in England,' said Wenger. 'It can change very quickly. It is something that is very fragile, to maintain that under pressure, disappointments, injuries. 

Petr Cech was an inspired buy in the summer and has helped earn his side a number of points  

'That is our task. That's why all the older players have this kind of responsibility to take care of our unity.

'Experience will help but what will help more than anything is the quality of our performances and I think Sunday is a big one for us on that front. What helps is that you know you can do it. But a big part of our team has not done it.'

Not yet, anyway. Sunday, followed by fixtures against Leicester at home, Manchester United away, Tottenham away and Everton away, with a Champions League tie against Barcelona thrown in for good measure, will teach us a little more about the class of 2015-16. They might not be invincible but they could be good enough.