Arsenal faced Sutton United yesterday in the round of the last sixteen in the FA Cup and won 2-0 against them. Despite the defeat Wenger hailed the enemies.
"They are basically in division five and they are 17th out of 24. [I was surprised] by the speed of their game.
"The fact they never stopped going until the end and, compared to 20 years ago, these teams are fit now and can play at the pace of the Premier League.
"Maybe before they collapsed in the last 20 minutes, [but] that is finished," he explained.
"We had to keep our focus. I must give credit to the players who were professional and kept their focus, if we had come here in a relaxed mood we would have gone out tonight, because they produced quality.
"We could not afford a light team selection tonight and that is why I came with basically all the players who were available, because we couldn't afford to go out tonight, we can never afford it."