Van Persie fires warning to rivals as Arsenal make it 11 wins out of 12

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."