He said: “The present team is by far the best I’ve ever played in. Everything is about pure football.
“Look at players like Cesc Fabregas, Alexander Hleb and Tomas Rosicky – these lads are class footballers.
“I think that European football is easier for us because we get more space. But in either competition if you give us even a small space then it’s going to be difficult to stop us.
“Now people are saying they want to see how we fare against the big clubs. I can’t wait for that because I know that we can beat everyone. That applies to the Champions League, too.
“Last year the story was that we couldn’t compete with the other big clubs because of our physical weaknesses.
“But when I look now at players like Fabregas, Gael Clichy, Emmanuel Eboue, Gilberto Silva and Kolo Toure, these are guys who aren’t afraid to put their foot in.
“Arsenal are now the fittest team in the Premier League. The majority of teams start strongly but fall back later on while we play at a constant level and often produce the decisive moment in the last 15 minutes of the match.”
He added: “A lot of teams were afraid of the big signings that Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United made but that doesn’t interest me one bit – how much these guys earn in a week is totally uninteresting.
“Our players don’t drive in the most luxurious cars but, when it comes to our football, we’re technically tremendously good.
“Most analysis bases quality on status but we have a good young team without status or years of experience.”
