The Baggies travel to the Emirates on Saturday looking to bounce back from successive defeats against Swansea and Stoke after previously climbing to third spot in the Premier League.
And while Clarke insists his team should be judged over the season as a whole, he is demanding they return to form against the Gunners.
Clarke said: "I'm not looking for a response, I'm expecting it because that's what they've done before.
"We've had two defeats before this season, then we lost two games in the space of four days last week.
"It is not a disaster in terms of the whole picture and what we are trying to do this season.
"It is the Premier League and it is a difficult place to win week in and week out.
"Even the top sides don't win every week. There is no reason to expect you should win every game.
"It's a league where you can have a run of difficult results. Our aim is to make sure we get back on a positive footing as soon as possible with a good performance at the Emirates this weekend."
Clarke added: "We've never said that we are a top-six side, we've never said anything about the team.
"All we've said is that we are a good, honest, hard-working bunch, we know we can compete in the Premier League and we try to do that every week.
"We haven't tried to pigeonhole ourselves at all. We are working towards the whole season - not a bunch of five or six fixtures. We work towards the points total for the whole season."
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