Arsenal captain Mikel Arteta has claimed that the current Gunners squad is the best that the club has had for many years.

The 33-year-old midfielder has spent four seasons at the Emirates Stadium, winning two FA Cups and two Community Shields in that time.

Arteta is confident that the strong spirit among the players will spur Arsenal on to even greater success in the seasons to come.

"This is the best group of players in terms of numbers and quality that we have had for many, many years," he told the London Evening Standard.

"The unity we have is really good as a group. I am really confident in this group - if we maintain it and start adding little things in the next few years then we have a very strong team and club. The cohesion we have around the club and with the fans is probably the closest it has been because we had periods when we had difficult times and things weren't breaking down between anyone.

"When you go through difficult moments together, that really helps to get where you want to get to afterwards. We haven't broken in difficult moments and that is very important."

Arteta joined Arsenal from Everton in August 2011.