Tomas Rosicky feels Arsenal are now better equipped to challenge at the top of the table than a few years ago.
The Czech midfielder produced a string of outstanding performances over the Christmas period and scored the second goal in Saturday's FA Cup win over Tottenham.
"The English boys are not kids anymore, they gained experience through the years so that's why I think we have the maturity to do it this year"
Tomas Rosicky
Rosicky believes the Gunners have come through their "bumpy" spell in December and praised the squad for their response since then.
"It was a bit bumpy when we lost against Manchester City and drew against Everton," he told Arsenal.com. "But you will always have phases like that in a year so that's nothing new.
"This team has more experience than it did in the past. We have [Per] Mertesacker, [Mesut] Ozil, who won things in Madrid and the other experienced boys like Mikel [Arteta] and [Mathieu] Flamini.
"Plus the English boys are not kids anymore, they gained experience through the years of playing here so that's why I think we have the maturity to do it this year."
Rosicky pointed out the comeback win against West Ham United on Boxing Day as an example of the team's resilience this season.
"The most important thing is that you never give up and always try to go for it," he said. "Like the game against West Ham, yes it will happen that the [other] team will score against you but you always have to carry on and that's what the boys did. It was very positive."
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