LONDON -- Arsene Wenger has said he feels Arsenal have made progress this season, even though they are likely to finish further behind the Premier League champions than they did a year ago.
Arsenal ended up just seven points behind title winners Manchester City last season as they finished fourth, but Chelsea are currently 13 points ahead of Wenger's men with four games left to play.
Chelsea can seal the title with a victory against Crystal Palace on Sunday, but Wenger said Arsenal -- who are currently level on points with second-placed City with a game in hand -- can be satisfied that they have improved.
"I feel personally that we have made progress, so I look at it in a positive way," Wenger said. "What you want to see from a team over a season is for them to grow together and become better.
"We faced a big challenge because Chelsea in front of us did not drop their level and they were more consistent from start till the end. That's we did not catch them. I still see it as positive.
"The gap is there with Chelsea and they have been more consistent than us from the start of the [season]. They had a very strong start and that kept them going until the end."
Wenger said his side's injury problems, which saw the likes of Olivier Giroud, Mesut Ozil, Jack Wilshere and Theo Walcott out for long periods, had been the reason for Arsenal's failure to challenge.
"It is easy to say they [injuries] have been crucial, but we had big injuries at the start of the season after the World Cup and we got only the squad together later," he said.
"It took us some time as well to find a balance in the team and even then we still lost players like Jack Wilshere in November, and then again afterwards. We were not all together.
"When you look at games like Stoke away [a 3-2 defeat in December], the big disappointment for us is that we had a very young defence on the day and missing players was certainly detrimental to our results."
Despite injuries limiting his options at times, Wenger said he is satisfied with the number of players at his disposal.
On whether he was happy with the depth of his squad, he said: "I say certainly yes, because I have many international top-quality players who are not even in the squad on Saturdays when everyone is available. That has not been the case for many years.
"Our challenge is to finish well and take that strength into the next season. The start of the season is linked with belief as well. We can just strengthen the belief by finishing well."