Arsène Wenger last night answered the critics who questioned his lack of investment, especially in the forward department, during the summer. It was, the Arsenal manager said, unfair and unfounded.

Arsenal virtually qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, for what will be the tenth year in succession, with a comfortable 4-1 group H victory over Alkmaar, the Dutch side, at the Emirates Stadium.

It was Arsenal at their thrilling, attacking best, a point that Wenger was quick to point out. “Have I ever had so many options? As many on the creative side? Certainly not,” he said. “And we still have [Nicklas] Bendtner, Theo Walcott, offensive players who are not available.

“Also, Denilson, Eduardo [da Silva], [Tomas] Rosicky did not start . . . and [Carlos] Vela as well, I forgot him. I am not scared to spend money but what we want is to buy the players who have the needed quality to strengthen the team.

“It was a brilliant performance, we dominated technically and tactically and we were never under threat. We played with a confidence, we were technically astute and, overall, I am very happy indeed.”

Andrey Arshavin, the Russia forward who joined the North London club during the January transfer window, inspired most of their penetrative play and created three of their goals.

Arsenal stretched their unbeaten run in all competitions to 12 matches, ten of which have been wins.

“We are consistent,” Wenger said. “We grow from game to game. We get stronger from game to game and it’s important to keep that attitude to progress and improve, play for each other and improve even more. We have to believe in our future.

“The competition gets more difficult the more you go on. I believe we have quality, I said before the season that I believe in them. But it is down to us to be consistent. Then we see how far we can go in this competition.”

Arsenal are likely to secure their place in the knockout phase when they play at home to Standard Liège on November 24. Cesc Fàbregas, their captain, is not yet convinced. “It is not definite, so we’ll have to keep working until the end,” he said. “Even if we had qualified tonight, we would have wanted to win and have gone for the six points. That is our mentality.

“It’s just the beginning of the season, nothing is done. We want to keep going until the end. I’ll feel it is something special when we win something. We want to win and if we win something at the end, we will say we had a good year. We can still do better, so we’ll try to improve in the next few games.”

Ronald Koeman, the Alkmaar coach, paid tribute to Fàbregas’s skill and work ethic. “He is one of the best midfielders in the world,” Koeman said. “He has so many qualities, he prepares attacks for the team and he scores. He is a fabulous player.”