Arsenal's commanding victory over Atletico Madrid has compelled Jamie Carragher to admit for the first time that the Gunners are genuine Champions League contenders. The north London outfit netted four goals within 13 minutes to demolish Atleti 4-0 on Tuesday evening, maintaining their perfect record in the tournament.
Mikel Arteta's men have now dispatched Athletic Club, Olympiakos and Atletico Madrid without shipping a single goal. Gabriel Magalhaes nodded home Declan Rice's set-piece delivery to break the deadlock before Gabriel Martinelli swept in a spectacular second. Viktor Gyokeres subsequently fired home twice from close range to end his barren spell and clinch another three points for the Gunners.
Arteta's side sit level at the summit of the Champions League group stage standings alongside reigning champions Paris Saint-Germain and previous season's finalists Inter Milan, whilst also leading the Premier League table.
Carragher was thoroughly impressed by their display against Diego Simeone's outfit and has revised his assessment of their prospects following their semi-final appearance last campaign.
"Right now I think Arsenal and Bayern are the two most impressive teams I've seen when you look at their performances domestically and what they're doing in the Champions League," the former Liverpool defender said on CBS Sports.
"I've said before on this show that I've never had Arsenal down as a Champions League club. I know that might sound obvious because they've never won it before but I've always thought there's something about them that doesn't connect, they've never really gone close.
"Thierry's [Arsenal] team was the best team I ever played against in the Premier League and even that team didn't come close enough to winning the Champions League. It wasn't that team that got to the Champions League final.
"I do look at this team now and see how strong they are defensively. My Liverpool team that won the Champions League [in 2005] were not a great team attacking-wise but we were strong defensively.
"That always gives you a chance, especially when you get to the knockout stages and the two-legged ties. If you're strong defensively you've always got a chance. So, yeah, I see Arsenal as one of the four or five teams that can win this competition."
PSG thrashed Bayer Leverkusen 7-2 on Tuesday evening to maintain their flawless beginning, whilst Inter defeated Union Saint-Gilloise.
However, Arsenal's defensive solidity and squad strength has witnessed them establish themselves as a European powerhouse following 2-0 victories against Athletic Club and Olympiakos.
Arteta expressed his delight at his team's performance against Atleti. "I'm extremely happy and proud of the performance and the results against a really good side," he said. "I was very impressed when I analysed them and what I've seen today about them as well.
"So, I knew about the difficulty of it. It required a lot of aggression and a lot of patience as well, and the way they managed the context of the game and the way they can manipulate their behaviour was really impressive."