Everton midfielder Gareth Barry admits he came close to signing for Arsenal in the summer.
Barry is on-loan at Everton from Manchester City.
"There was a bit of contact with Arsenal and they were interested but I think they went down the road with [Mathieu] Flamini," said Barry.
"If I'm being honest, they [Arsenal] have sort of surprised me, the way they're playing, the way they're being relentless in winning games. Their style of football hasn't changed but some of their players are at the top of their form.
"But the lads in the dressing room can go down to Arsenal now and play with no fear, believing we can put in another performance like we did at Old Trafford. The win there takes a lot of pressure off us and we'll be going down to London looking to do a similar sort of job."
