A JOKE doing the rounds this week suggested that Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger was set to leave the Highbury hotseat to host a popular gameshow of yesteryear.

3-2-1 might not be Wenger's favoured choice of viewing after his treble dreams exploded over the last seven days but, as yesterday's topsy-turvy win over Liverpool proved, tales of an Arsenal implosion need to be taken with a pinch of salt.

The Gunners were probably never as good as some were suggesting when they were plotting a seemingly inevitable course to treble glory earlier this season.

But they are also nowhere near as bad as a host of critics have suggested after high-profile defeats to Manchester United and Chelsea.

The FA Cup and Champions League might have gone out of the window, but the Premiership title remains the true test of who is the best side in the country, and Arsenal are still firm favourites to finish the season as champions.

Yesterday's 4-2 win over Liverpool stretched their lead at the top of the Premiership to seven points and, while that will close to four if Chelsea beat Middlesbrough this afternoon, Arsenal still have a healthy cushion with just seven more games to play.

Tomorrow's trip to Newcastle is probably the biggest obstacle they still have to negotiate but, provided Wenger's side avoid defeat at St James' Park, they should have little trouble tackling a run-in that contains home games with Leeds, Birmingham and Leicester and eminently winnable away games at Spurs, Portsmouth and Fulham.

There has been a lot of soul-searching over the last seven days, but two narrow defeats should not be allowed to tarnish everything that Arsenal have achieved over the last nine months.

It should not be forgotten that Arsenal are still undefeated in the league this season, and the only club to have ever gone through an entire top-flight campaign without losing were Preston when they became the inaugural winners of the Football League in 1889.

Setting new benchmarks is one thing, but true success is measured in terms of trophies and Arsenal will still feel like they have achieved nothing if they slip up over the next four weeks.

That was why, after suffering such disappointment over the past week, there was no real surprise in the way the Gunners twice responded to going behind against Liverpool.

Patrick Vieira was back to his barnstorming best at the heart of midfield, Sol Campbell regained his defensive composure to nullify the threat of Michael Owen after the break, and Thierry Henry scored one of the goals of the season en route to a hat-trick of the highest quality.

All talk of trebles might have been banned in Highbury's marble halls but, yesterday, that trio provided further evidence of exactly why Arsenal will claim the single that really counts.