Per Mertesacker believes Arsenal's willingness to adapt their gameplan is behind their emergence as title contenders.
Monday night's 2-1 victory over Manchester City was achieved with less possession and fewer shots than the visitors, and left Arsenal two points behind Leicester heading into Christmas.
Arsene Wenger's sides have long been accused of a lack of a 'plan B', a criticism which they first answered seriously when they won 2-0 at City's Etihad home in January.
And Mertesacker says hours of practice mean they can now repeat that kind of performance whenever necessary.
"We are capable of doing different things sometimes and that is what makes it harder for the opponent," he said. "That is our thought and that is why we implement them into games sometimes, but we are still dangerous on the counter attack and that makes us a real threat.
"Last season we played at City and we showed some different kind of match-plan. That is what we had in the locker already, but this year we are more consistent and it is what makes us a bit better as a unit.
"Sometimes we need to adjust, we don't have all the players available at the minute. We think that is the best way to win against City but we need to trust that way as well - it is not only thinking about it, it is also about putting it in to practice.
"That is what we are doing really well at the minute but that means a lot of concentration and work in training and everyone in the game is up for the challenge."
Wenger said after Monday's game that it is too early to talk about the title and Mertesacker has echoed his manager's warning.
"We haven't proven anything yet and we haven't been that consistent that we can talk about that - that is my opinion," he said. "We go game by game and concentrate on having a game plan and trying to implement it."