Aaron Ramsdale says Arsenal will need the mentality of a Championship club on a promotion charge to win the race for fourth place.
The Gunners lost ground in the scramble for Champions League football next season in Sunday's stalemate with rock-bottom Burnley.
After four games without a goal, Arsenal's total output for January will be one point, being knocked out of both domestic cups and a cry-off in the north London derby.
But goalkeeper Ramsdale believes they can recapture their winning run in December by recharging batteries on a sunshine break in Dubai.
And he claimed Arsenal can find fresh impetus towards a top-four finish like a team building up a head of steam to win promotion from the Championship.
Ramsdale said: “I think we have just been short in a few games really. The Man City one on New Year’s Day, we just fell short.
“Against Burnley, we just fell short with a goal, and then obviously in the cups anything can happen. But we are close, we just need to get back to a mini-run and you never know with momentum at the end of the season.
“We are almost looking at it as sort of a promotion push in the Championship, and try and get into those play-offs - which is ultimately the top four for us.”
Ramsdale refused to point the finger after a dismal month where the goals dried up for Arsenal – their last one was in the rancorous 2-1 defeat by champions City.
And he refused to use a squad depleted by injuries, suspensions, Africa Cup of Nations call-ups and Covid as the reason for their poor run.
The Gunners are now in a five-way fight for a top-four finish with Manchester United, West Ham, Tottenham and Wolves.
Ramsdale added: “At the moment we are depleted and some lads have played a lot of minutes. I don’t want to make an excuse for that but I am not the one who is running around all game.
“We have got time to regroup now and we’ve got Wolves when we get back after the mini break.
“There has to be sort of a line (in terms of missing players) and it has to be spoken about.
"Against Burnley, I think we had two defenders on the bench, one striker, and the rest were 18 or 19-year-olds who haven’t played for us before.
“It was similar for them (Burnley). They have not played for a long time in the Premier League and they still haven’t got a number of players back from injury or illness, so we can’t underplay it but it is the same for everyone.
“We won’t rest our laurels on that sort of excuse.”
