Kolo Toure believes Arsenal are finally showing enough steel on their travels to sustain a title challenge.

The Gunners won just 10 of their 19 away games in the Premier League last season and in the two campaigns before that they managed just six and seven victories.

Despite losing at Fulham on the opening day, Arsene Wenger's side have rallied with a 4-0 win at Blackburn followed by Saturday's 3-1 victory at Bolton.

With the score at 2-1 at the Reebok, Arsenal refused to buckle even when Gael Clichy was taken to hospital for X-rays on a shin injury caused by a challenge from Kevin Davies.

Clichy was given the all-clear but having moved to the top of the table, Toure, 27, insists Arsenal must show similar backbone if they are to win a first title since 2004.

He said: "In the past we have allowed ourselves to be intimidated but this time we knew it would be tough at Bolton and we were ready for that.

"We know we have to win our away matches this season if we are going to be champions because we dropped far too many points last season.

"In previous years we have been too easy to beat away from home but we have shown this week that we are able to win these games. That is the key."

The Gunners fell behind in the 14th minute at the Reebok Stadium when Davies headed in Joey O'Brien's corner.

But, having hit the post through Emmanuel Adebayor and Alexandre Song, Arsenal levelled on 26 minutes when Nicklas Bendtner slipped the ball through for Emmanuel Eboue to score.

A minute later, Denilson crossed for Bendtner to slide in and after withstanding second-half pressure, Denilson scored a third from Adebayor's cross with two minutes left.

Wenger praised his side's battling qualities, saying: "We've sometimes dropped points at teams like Blackburn and Bolton in the past but in both games we won in a convincing way."