Arsenal’s performance last night showed that it was about time we start giving our Premier League teams the credit they deserve. If AC Milan had come to England and done that to one of our own we would have been raving about them for a long time to come.

The sides in England are probably the best around at the moment but we don’t give them the credit. Liverpool made Inter Milan look average in the first leg of their Champions League tie a fortnight ago. Arsenal made Milan look even worse. Imagine what we would have said if the shoe had been on the other foot.

The Barclays Premier League may be the richest in the world, but sometimes we go over the top about the money because it’s also the best and it showed on the pitch at the San Siro. If Arsenal, Manchester United, Chelsea or Liverpool get it right, they can all beat each other — and they’d have a better chance of doing that than any of the big foreign teams would.

I would be amazed if all four of the English side do not make it to the quarter-finals with their squads, their talent and their unity. I cannot remember a team giving Milan at home such a beating. I have seen teams win there before — I remember Rosenborg doing so — but Arsenal battered them. If they get it right, they are as good as anyone. It was one of the great team performances. People will look back and remember that night for years to come. It was an opportunity for Arsenal to mature and disprove everyone who had thought they were vulnerable.

I don’t think the argument that this Arsenal team are naive and not mature enough stands up. It’s just that, at times, it has gone badly wrong for them. But, as Milan discovered, they have shown they can bounce back. The problem we have is that we all seem to be up in arms whenever one of the top four has an off day and a bad spell. It’s laughable.

There was a brief period in the game after Arsenal had missed a couple of chances when I feared Milan might nick it, but it would have been a travesty. The Italians are incredibly experienced but they couldn’t hold a candle to Arsenal in any department. Arsenal out-ran Milan, outplayed them and were more athletic.

Talk about pace and power in all areas. I have been banging on about Theo Walcott for a long time and he destroyed Kakha Kaladze for the second goal, showing toughness and balance to stay on his feet. I don’t think anyone could say that when he gets in those positions he doesn’t show a cool head. Every player that goes to Arsenal and plays under Arsène Wenger seems to improve.

The 0-0 draw in the first leg at the Emirates was a better result than people gave Arsenal credit for. If they had drawn 0-0 against Barcelona, it would have been a different problem because Barcelona will commit men forward and look to score, but while Milan don’t give much away, they don’t create a lot of chances, either, and Wenger knew that if his team could score a goal they would go through.

When playing Milan you have to take your chances because you don’t get many. You are faced with two banks of four when they lose the ball. They deny you any space and they are good at committing clever little fouls. But last night Arsenal had five or six good chances and that’s a rarity, especially at the San Siro.

It was such a great team effort that you couldn’t pick anyone out, but Philippe Senderos was a man mountain. Kaká is tremendous but he wasn’t given any time or space to cause any damage. Of all Wenger’s players, Senderos has more captain and leadership qualities than any. He makes the odd error but as a leader you cannot fault him and that is why Wenger thinks a lot of him. He was the one dictating things at the back. It is easy to criticise those who make the odd poor decision, but he’s more of a captain than William Gallas.

Wenger had a smirk on his face at the end of the game as if to say, “I’m proud of what you’ve all achieved here.” You try to be humble in victory and defeat but that smirk said it all: “Look at what we can produce.”