Phil Brown's men - who won the Coca-Cola Championship final at Wembley - sit proudly in third place, one point ahead of the Gunners, after winning their last four matches.

The Tigers pulled off a shock, but deserved 2-1 win at Arsenal in September and face more stern tests in their next two matches against Luiz Felipe Scolari's star-studded side and then must travel to champions Manchester United on Sunday.

Wenger, though, feels Hull can be rightly proud of their achievements so far.

"Hull deserve a lot of credit. They have been the surprise packet since the start of the league," he said.

"They can dream of Europe. Why shouldn't they? Hull have 20 points after nine games. That means they dropped only seven, and if you look who they played, they have played good teams.

"The only question you could ask is how will they respond to one or two shock defeats? Because when confidence is very high, things go naturally. Once you go into a bit of a crisis of results, then how will you respond?

"But at the moment I take them very seriously."

Wenger added: "If they can come to the Emirates and win, then they can play at home and beat Chelsea. Why not?"

The Arsenal manager has been impressed by the make-up of Brown's side in their first top-flight campaign.

"They look to be efficient defensively and offensively. They do not concede goals and they score goals," Wenger said.

"They are consistent, so you have to start to take them seriously at the top of the league.

"The numbers give out would make you think they can continue - it is not a 4-3 win, or a 1-0. It is always in a convincing way and with a very efficient defensive record. That gives you a lot of stability."