LONDON -- Arsene Wenger said he believed Arsenal's 2-2 home draw with Manchester City, in which his side twice fought back from behind, would help rebuild confidence after a string of poor results.
Arsenal twice levelled, through Theo Walcott and Shkodran Mustafi, although the result did little for their hopes of a top-four finish.
But Wenger drew positives from the game after a run of four losses in five Premier League games saw them drop to sixth.
"It will help us to rebuild confidence, because the players have shown some mental strength and that will help us to come back to our natural fluency," he told a news conference.
"Mathematically for both teams it's not the best [result] today. But hopefully it will help us to restart now."
Arsenal went behind after Leroy Sane finished off a quick attack early on but Walcott levelled in the 40th minute.
City responded through Sergio Aguero just two minutes later, and things got worse as key defender Laurent Koscielny had to come off at half-time.
But they drew level again as Mustafi headed in a corner.
Wenger said the team's recent slump had taken a toll on his players, explaining: "Overall we started with quite a high level of anxiety and were punished straight away.
"So I felt it was a mental test and overall you could see that the team was touched on the confidence front and that the fluency in our game suffered.
"But we have shown great mental resources because we were twice down, and at one point in the worst moment of a football game, just before halftime. And on top of that we lost Koscielny, but in the second half we came back to 2-2."
Wenger said he did not know how long Koscielny would be sidelined for but added that midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who both missed the game with what the club described as "slight" injuries, could be available for Wednesday's home game against West Ham.
The City match was preceded by more protests against Wenger outside the stadium by fans who want him to step down after the season.
But the crowd remained united behind the team and the manager said: "I must say, despite all that happens on the fans front, I felt our fans were fantastic today.
"In the very difficult moments in the game, at 1-0 down, 2-1 down just before half-time, our fans could have turned against us.
"And I think they were absolutely sensational and helped the team today get through those very difficult moments."
Wenger was asked about a second-half moment when Alexis Sanchez stood still with his hands on his hips after Mustafi had lost the ball, but the manager said: "I didn't see negative body language. It's the way he is. I felt he gave everything today.''