Arsenal can win the Champions League, says Thomas Vermaelen
• Vermaelen says Arsenal don't fear any opponent
• Team have been written off twice already this season

Arsenal thumped Porto at Emirates Stadium despite being without a number of key players. Photograph: Adam Davy/Empics Sport

Nicklas Bendtner's outspoken confidence appears contagious. In the heady aftermath of Arsenal's march into the Champions League quarter-finals, courtesy of Tuesday night's thumping of Porto, the whole team bristled with assurance.

"I'm convinced that we can win this competition, otherwise I wouldn't be stood here," said the defender Thomas Vermaelen. "You have to stay focused in every game and be confident in every game. As a football player, you can never be afraid of anyone."

Arsenal have drawn strength from adversity. In the last-16 second leg against Porto, they were without what the manager, Arsène Wenger, considered, at the beginning of the season, to be the spine of his team: the defender William Gallas, the midfielder Cesc Fábregas and the striker Robin van Persie. It did not matter, as the supporting cast, led by Bendtner, Vermaelen, Samir Nasri and Andrey Arshavin, rose to the challenge. The Emirates pulsed to a delirious beat as a 2-1 first-leg deficit became a 6-2 aggregate triumph.

The team have been repeatedly written off yet still they cling on. If it appears a trick of the mind that they are only two points off the top of the Premier League, following the dispiriting home and away losses to Chelsea and Manchester United, the old adage about the table never lying ought to be remembered.

"We've been written off twice already, I think," said Vermaelen, with reference to the reaction to the home defeats to Chelsea in November and United in January. "Can we have the last laugh? Maybe. We will see at the end of the season. We're still in the race for the league and the Champions League. Maybe we can learn from the games we played against Chelsea and Manchester United."

Europe's heavyweights will loom in the Champions League quarter-final draw on Friday week and it is safe to say that Arsenal's opponent will not be as accommodating as Porto. The Portuguese champions were a major disappointment on Tuesday, unable to live with Arsenal's pace, skill and movement.

As Arsenal poured forward after Nasri's wonderful goal for 3-0 on the night had effectively settled the tie, it was tempting to become carried away at their prospects. Wenger's team in full flow, particularly when the pressure is off, remains one of the sport's most exhilarating sights. But question marks linger over their ability to go the final and most difficult yards to silverware, to claim the scalp of, for example, a team like Chelsea or Barcelona.

In their home Premier League defeats to Chelsea and United, they were overpowered in midfield and not only did their intricate passing football run aground against streetwise defences but they were hit hard on the counter. Arsenal can appear fragile at the back. They had more than a few wobbles on Tuesday before they made the game safe. Is Manuel Almunia the world-class performer that they need in goal? Can Sol Campbell or Mikaël Silvestre reasonably be expected to fill the boots of the injured Gallas, whom Roma are trying to lure to Serie A? Daniele Prade, the Roma sporting director, has been in London to sell the merits of the move to him.

The question that has dogged Wenger is whether he does enough in training to effect improvements to Arsenal's defensive game. The fine-tuning seems to involve how to inject yet more offensive edge. If the opposition score three, Arsenal back themselves to score four. Yet the very top teams rarely win or lose 4-3.

Arsenal remain compelling to watch and they will travel to Hull City in the Premier League on Saturday with their tails up. Of all their squad, no one is flying higher at present than Bendtner, the hat-trick hero on Tuesday and a player who knows only the power of positive thinking.

"We have a great team and we are up there with the best," he said. "I definitely believe we can win the Champions League. We play spectacular football, we are efficient and we score goals. That's the road to success, isn't it?"

Pavlyuchenko paves Spurs path with goals
The Russian who came in from the cold is certainly enjoying Tottenham's warm embrace now. Eight goals in six games for Roman Pavlyuchenko might not see him finish the season as the club's top scorer – that will be Jermain Defoe, who added to his tally here as well – but much more of this and he might well remain a Tottenham player next season. In any case, Pavlyuchenko's two goals strengthened Spurs's grip on fourth place and the last Champions' League qualifying position, but with more composure he could have matched Defoe's achievement this season of scoring five in a game.

His conversion from an expensive misfit to someone forcing Robbie Keane to go to Celtic and relegating Peter Crouch to the bench has been impressive. For those who saw him for his previous club, Zenit St Petersburg, and at Euro 2008, after which Spurs bought him, he is merely showing the form Harry Redknapp and everyone else always expected.