LONDON -- Arsene Wenger thinks the burden of suddenly being favourites for the Premier League title could put extra pressure on Leicester going into their crucial game against Arsenal on Sunday.
Arsenal trail Leicester by five points going into a crucial weekend where they can wrest back some of the momentum from the high-flying league leaders.
While Wenger said the game at the Emirates will not decide the title race, he acknowledged that "it's not far away from that."
And even though Leicester have shown no signs of their stunning run faltering, Wenger said their recent wins over Liverpool and Manchester City mean they now have to deal with the increased expectations stemming from those results.
"They are in a position still where they think that they have nothing to lose. But once you're on top of the league you can as well think that now you can lose what you have," Wenger said on Friday at his pregame news conference. "And that's where the nerves come in a little bit. I don't know how they will respond to that."
Arsenal beat Leicester 5-2 away in September, the first loss of the season for Claudio Ranieri's men. Leicester were already top of the table at that stage, but few would have expected them to be back in that spot in February.
And Wenger said resilience shown by Ranieri's team means they can't count on them collapsing any time soon.
"We have to look more at ourselves. What is important is to get the momentum back," Wenger said. "After that, let's not count too much on any weakness of Leicester, because they have not shown too many."
Leicester could have a big advantage compared to their title rivals down the stretch in that they only have the Premier League to focus on. Arsenal and Man City are still in the FA Cup and Champions League as well, with Manuel Pellegrini's team also having reached the League Cup final.
Second-place Tottenham are competing in the FA Cup and Europa League still. But that extra rest between games does not necessarily have to be a positive thing for Leicester if their results start stuttering.
"Time to think can be a disadvantage if you don't use your thinking in a positive way, and the pressure is on," Wenger said. "It's true that sometimes the less time you have to wait for the next game, the better it is."
Arsenal do not have any new injuries to worry about and Wenger said he expects a similar squad to the one that won at Bournemouth last Sunday, with Danny Welbeck not expected back until next week.
Wenger would not say whether Gabriel Paulista will start again at centre-back instead of Per Mertesacker, but said that containing Leicester's speed on the counter-attack will be one of the keys to the game.
"It's true that their strength is to go very quickly in transition from defence to offence and that we have to nullify that pace and their counter-attacking potential," Wenger said. "But on our side we want of course to dominate the game, and have the ball and be dangerous."
And while Arsenal won convincingly at the King Power stadium, Wenger said Leicester are a better team five months later.
"They are certainly more convinced of their quality, the strength of that belief. When we played them they were top of the table, so that has not changed. But certainly their belief has been strengthened," Wenger said.
The Frenchman also acknowledged again that the Leicester fairytale has captured the imagination of most neutral fans, meaning they may be rooting against Arsenal on Sunday.
"Of course it is very romantic, and I understand the whole country [wants Leicester to win the title]," Wenger said. "That's human. I think it's also good for football. And it goes against the usual practice of our game, which is spend, buy big stars. It's important to know as well that with quality work and quality scouting and quality management you can have great results."