Robin van Persie warned Arsenal's rivals that the young team are
getting better by the week and will be "unstoppable" if they
continue to progress.
The Dutchman's late goal against Steaua Bucharest secured the
Premier League leaders a 1-0 triumph last night for their ninth
consecutive win as they took a huge step towards qualification to
the knockout stages of the Champions League.
It was their 11th victory from 12 games in a dazzling unbeaten
start to the campaign and their best run of wins since the
'Invincibles' side of 2003-04 won nine on the bounce as they swept
all before them four seasons ago.
"If we can stay together we can do amazing stuff in the future,"
said Van Persie. "We are progressing every week we play.
"If we just play our normal game, not many teams can stop us. We
can win trophies. Why not? This is our aim. At the start of the
season I said we will surprise and everyone was laughing. Now 12
games into the season, everyone says, 'Ooh, look at Arsenal, they
are a good team'.
"This I knew before and my mind has not changed. I started training
early this season with Theo [Walcott] and after, when the rest of
the lads came back in, I saw a great togetherness and belief and
big quality. This is what I saw day in, day out.
"I can understand the views of the fans and the press because they
are not there every day. But I am and I saw this from early on. If
we win a trophy, we are a good team. If we miss it, we are not a
bad team. We will just have missed it."
However, Gilberto warned his team-mates to not get carried away if
they are to translate their phenomenal start to the season into
silverware.
The Brazilian said: "The more you win, the harder it is for you to
play against other teams because everyone want to beat you. But if
they keep their minds right and everyone works hard for each other,
there is a great chance. It is important we keep our feet on the
ground. If you don't keep your feet on the ground and your mind
strong, it is very hard.
"From now on it will be even tougher. Everyone will want to win
against us. I think this team can be one of the strongest in
Europe. The quality is massive in this group.
"I'm not surprised how well they are doing because I'm with them
every day on the training ground. The quality in which they do
their job - the pass and movement, the goals - is fantastic. If one
of the players isn't in condition to play, another replaces him and
will do a great job."
Arsene Wenger praised his side's patience after Arsenal maintained
their perfect start in the Champions League.
The Arsenal manager said: "We decided to put pace in the game and
score early, but we did not manage to do so. We were superior and
we were, but as long as you do not score you must not become too
nervous or impatient, and therefore open to the
counter-attack.
"We kept going, were intelligent and in the end scored the goal
which gave us a deserved win."
Looks liek we are the only team
to beat..period.
