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Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal side are incomparable to European heavyweights Bayern Munich because they have yet to win the Champions League.
Both teams are unbeaten in the competition this season ahead of Wednesday's pulsating clash between arguably Europe's best two sides, who rank first and second in the league phase so far.
Vincent Kompany's Bayern have won the European Cup six times — and it is something Arteta is keenly aware of.
When asked if Arsenal are ready to be considered one of the elite European teams, Arteta said: 'If you talk about performances and consistency, hopefully yes, but to consider that in terms of the trophies at that level, I mean, we have never won the Champions League in our history, and Bayern Munich have won it six times.
'So, we are not there. (If) we compare with Real Madrid, they're (in) a different universe.'
Bayern have dominated this fixture over the last decade, winning four of the last five matches and scoring five goals on three separate occasions to embarrass the Gunners.
Mikel Arteta said his Arsenal side are incomparable to European heavyweights Bayern Munich
The Gunners enjoyt a six-point advantage at the top of the Premier League and have won all four of their matches in Europe this term
Yet Arteta is relishing the challenge ahead.
He said: 'This is the kind of game in the competition that we want to face, and we've been very consistent in both competitions (Premier League and Champions League). Tomorrow is a great test for us to see where we are.'
On Viktor Gyokeres and Kai Havertz, who were not involved in open training this afternoon, he added: '(They're) really good both of them, so in the next few days again I think they're going to have a scan to see how everything is and see if we can push them for the weekend (against Chelsea).'
