Aaron Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey Reuters

Arsenal midfielder Aaron Ramsey believes that the presence of real leaders in the team has helped them get to a good start this season.

The Gunners are currently top of the league, two points ahead of Chelsea and Liverpool and a win against the Blues next Monday will keep them top on Christmas in a period which can determine their title credentials over the length of the season. Ramsey has been the standout player for Arsenal, scoring eight goals thus far in the league and has been central to everything that the north London club have accomplished this season.

Ramsey suffered a catastrophic leg break in 2010 when Stoke City defender Ryan Shawcross crashed into him at the Brittania and which kept him out of the game for more than a year. The 22-year-old has since come back strongly and is currently fulfilling the promise he showed before his injury. If Arsenal have to end their eight-year trophy drought, they need the Welshman to step up the occasion. The player believes that with so many leaders in the team now, it will not be as tough a proposition as it has been in recent years.

"We have those kind of players. We are still a young team but we have some young players who are quite experienced. I feel like there are leaders in this team. (Per) Mertesacker, myself, Jack... Everyone wants to win. The players are very passionate. They give their all in every game. That's definitely an area where we have improved over the past couple of seasons," Ramsey said.

"Teams will drop points at City this season, so we can't get too down about that. And we play them at home later in the season so we need to make sure we beat them then.

"I did an interview with Martin Keown not so long ago and he told me the main difference this season is the fact that he can see more leaders on the pitch. He obviously felt there was room for improvement there and he has noticed that. He can see the players are more demanding of each other on the pitch," he concluded.