Stoke City's late comeback against Aston Villa on Sunday provided Arsenal with a timely, if unexpected, boost ahead of tonight's match with West Bromwich Albion, according to Arsène Wenger.

"Stoke's comeback [to draw] was a very big surprise for me. I think that Villa have lost a big opportunity to put us eight points behind and we want to take advantage of that," Wenger told Arsenal TV Online. "At the moment, there is pressure on Villa, on us and everybody."

Despite five successive league draws, including three consecutive scoreless ones at the Emirates, the Arsenal manager is unwilling to temper his ambitions and is still looking beyond the fourth-place finish that would guarantee Arsenal a qualifier for the Champions League. "Maybe not only Villa are catchable. We have to put performances in to make us come back as quickly as possible," he said. "It's down to our consistency and I have said that many times."

An ankle injury means that Wenger will be without the centre-back William Gallas at the Hawthorns but he was encouraged by the contribution of his £15m signing Andrei Arshavin in Saturday's draw at home to Fulham. "He has a quick brain and he is many steps ahead of the game and even on Saturday he gave two great chances to Robin [Van Persie]," said Wenger. "When you can have that kind of impact on a game, it is very positive."

The Russia international said that as well as struggling with his fitness he is still having problems being understood by his team-mates, but there was no misinterpreting his feelings on the possibility of finishing outside a Champions League spots. "Nobody dares to think about it."