Pires: Seven months out (PhilCole/GettyImages)

The French international scored his second Premiership goal of the season in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Aston Villa on Saturday.

And after ten appearances following his recovery from a cruciate knee problem, Pires said he is close to completing a Premiership game for the first time.

And he also revealed he was playing without any fear once again, rather than being cautious about his injury problems resurfacing.

The winger, who was substituted 10 minutes from the end after taking a knock, said: `I was given a programme of recovery and I have to respect that.

`But when you are in this team, with the atmosphere at Highbury, you can never hold back and you just want to be back as quickly as possible.

`There is more to come - about another 10 minutes! But I am getting stronger and will last the whole 90 minutes at my best very soon. I'm feeling better and better.

`The game against Roma gave me a lot of pleasure and it's been a very good week for me and for Arsenal.

`It was very hard after being out for so long. But I've been waiting for this moment since I got injured against Newcastle.

`But patience is one of my qualities and I knew it would pay off one day and it's beginning to pay off now. It was a very serious injury but that's in the past and I don't want to think about it anymore.