Robin van Persie insists Arsenal are confident they can end their trophy drought this season.
Fit-again striker confident Gunners can end trophy drought
Robin van Persie insists Arsenal are confident they can end their trophy drought this season after progressing to the Champions League knock-out stage.
The Gunners reached the Champions League final in 2006 but their last piece of silverware was the 2005 FA Cup.
Arsene Wenger's men only secured a place in the last 16 of this season's Champions League after a nervy 3-1 win over Partizan Belgrade on Wednesday night.
But asked if Arsenal believed they could halt their wait for silverware this term, Van Persie said: "We have to.
"Everything starts with belief. If you don't have belief you'd better stop playing football. We do believe."
Penalty opener
Van Persie was acting captain at the Emirates and opened the scoring from a 30th-minute penalty he won himself, only for Cordova Cleo to claim a 52nd-minute equaliser for Partizan.
But late strikes from substitute Theo Walcott and the in-form Samir Nasri ensured Arsenal clinched victory and secured second place in Group H.
"The pressure was on today," Van Persie added. "They played quite well. Partizan are a good side, they kept the ball quite well and we had to run a lot."
The Gunners had Bacary Sagna sent off with four minutes left for a professional foul, meaning he will be suspended for the first leg of the last 16.
Arsenal will face either Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Schalke in the next round and asked who he is hoping to play, Van Persie said: "As a football fan, Barcelona or Madrid, but we'll see what the draw will be."
