Nicklas Bendtner believes his understanding with Andrey Arshavin is good news for Arsenal ahead of the Carling Cup Final.

The Danish striker and his Russian team-mate are hoping to force their way into the side to face Birmingham on Sunday - and their chances have increased now Theo Walcott has sadly been ruled out through injury.

If he and Arshavin do get the nod, Bendtner is confident they can click when it matters most.

"We have had a good involvement together," Bendtner told the Official Matchday Programme.

"We get on very well and are good friends, and since he arrived here we have always played well alongside each other.

"If you look back, we’ve set quite a lot of goals up for each other all the way through. Even against Orient, I played him in a few times and we combined nicely.

"Andrey is very easy to click with, because he has such good passing and vision."

Wojciech Szczesny is convinced that Arsenal are capable of completing a league and cup double this year after they moved to within one point of leaders Manchester United thanks to a recent 10-match unbeaten league run.

The club's latest triumph was a 1-0 win over Stoke and came just four days before they will attempt to end their six-year trophy drought against Birmingham in the Carling Cup final. Szczesny admits the Gunners' recent good form has instilled a belief in the camp that they are good enough to win the league and cup.

"We believe that we are capable of winning the title," the goalkeeper said in the London Evening Standard. "We have been very consistent recently. We are doing very well defensively and not conceding a lot of goals, so we fancy our chances of catching them up and winning the title this year."

He added: "If we keep playing consistently like we have been, then this will make the difference in the title race. They have still got to come here and we believe that we can beat them."

And with Arsenal still competing in the Champions League and the FA Cup, Szczesny believes that other trophies may follow if Arsenal beat Alex McLeish's side this weekend.

"It is the first trophy we can win this year and we believe it can give us the boost to push on to win the next competition," he added. "We want to win that trophy and push on."

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger usually reverts to his second-choice goalkeeper for the domestic cup competitions, but he may go back on that policy to field Szczesny given the Pole's excellent form since edging Lukasz Fabianski and Manuel Almunia out of the team.

If Szczesny is chosen to make his first appearance at Wembley, it will cap a remarkable rise for the youngster who was on loan at League One side Brentford this time last year.

"I would love to play in the final," Szczesny said. "It will be my first chance to play at Wembley. I went there to the to watch us lose to Chelsea in the semi-final of the FA Cup (in 2009)

"I loved the surrounding atmosphere and the pressure that day. It's a stadium that puts a little more pressure on you and there is something special about it."