Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says Southampton's emergence is credit to their improvements, not the degrading of the Premier League's top clubs.
Wenger was speaking after defeat at Manchester United.
Asked about the quality of the teams in the title race, he said: "I don't know because you have for example a team like Southampton who is close to the top but they have three international players in the England squad. They have Luke Shaw is not far, they have they say [Nathaniel] Clyne is not far. That means maybe the whole Premier League has gone up. I don't think necessarily players like [Robin] Van Persie are not as good as last season or two seasons ago. It's just the whole quality has gone up."
