History beckons for Gunners, insists up-beat Bergkamp

DENNIS BERGKAMP believes that the weight of history will spur Arsenal towards a second consecutive Premiership title.

No Highbury team has successfully defended a Premiership crown, a fact which seems to bear heavily with Bergkamp and his team mates.

However he is confident the Gunners can win their place in the record books due to the talent and quality of the squad.

"This week Arsene Wenger described the current Arsenal squad as perfect. It is certainly very hard to find any fault with our side," Bergkamp said yesterday.

"No team at Highbury has ever defended the Premiership and we have such a good chance to do so this season. We are top of the league and are playing like champions so we mustn't throw away this opportunity, " he said.

The former Dutch international striker also rates this current side amongst the best he has played for, but stresses that such accolades are useless without the necessary silverware.

"There is so much talent at Highbury right now and it is a very special time to be at the club. We have at least two great players for every position and when we lose a top player through injury like Freddie Ljungberg for example the team does not get any weaker.

"I have played in many good teams in my career and this is certainly one of the best. But to be the very best you have to win prizes and all our exceptional performances this season will count for nothing if we do not win any trophies.

"Nobody will talk about a great team in years to come if they do not win anything. He stresses, the nothing can be taken for granted, as highlighted by recent results against Liverpool and Fulham.

"It is strange the way things happen in football. We played so well against Liverpool last week and I was very happy to score my first goal at Anfield but at the end of the game we were very disappointed not to win.

"On Saturday it was a different story. We were a little drained after such an intensive mid-week game and didn't play as well as we know we can but we beat Fulham with a goal in the dying minutes.

"You can play well in some games and not win and in others you can get a lucky result. I think, though, that the way in which we have played over the years we deserve to get those breaks from time to time.

"It's funny because scoring last-minute goals is something Manchester United have always been famous for and those late strikes have won them many prizes so this would be a good habit to take from them."