Arsenal announced healthy pre-tax profits of £38.6 million ($62.7 million), with Arsene Wenger stressing the Gunners are not afraid to splash the cash.

The 2011-12 profits were boosted by the sales of the likes of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, even if wages for the year increased from £124 million ($201 million) to £143 million ($232 million).

"Our numbers are good," Wenger told reporters. "They are pleasing, very pleasing. We are very lucky because we have good support and the income of our gates is very high.

"We have to maintain that by keeping our fans happy and to continue to manage well in the way we do it.

"We are not scared to spend the money but we feel that even if we spend our money we can't compete with some clubs on certain players. We want to spend our money in the right way."

Wenger was pointing to the fact of missing out on Eden Hazard, a player he has tracked for several years. The Belgian international decided to sign for Chelsea, after snubbing the likes of Manchester United and Manchester City.

"All the big budgets in England were after him," Wenger said. "The transfer price was fixed, because he had a clause, so everybody was at the same level.

"I cannot tell you how close we were because I don't know what Chelsea paid in the end."

Wenger is not surprised by the instant success enjoyed by Hazard at Chelsea, with the playmaker making a big impact already this season. "He has been voted best player of the French league two consecutive years," the Frenchman said.

"You need some quality to do that at his age. I'm not surprised at all that he goes to Chelsea and straight away is one of their stars because everybody knew about him."

Chelsea face Arsenal at the Emirates in Saturday's early kickoff of the English Premier League, and Wenger is happy to see one particular player - Didier Drogba, who has terrorized the Arsenal defense in the past, missing from the Chelsea line-up.

"I don't know how much Chelsea miss him, but we don't miss him! He did a lot of damage against us in every game," the Arsenal manager said.

"I feel that last year he had an average season in the Premier League but in the cups he was absolutely influential and decisive.

"He was a big part of Chelsea's success in the FA Cup and Champions League because he was massive.

"He has that quality and even when he was on a bad day for 80 minutes he didn't give up and kept his focus and his desire to be efficient. He was an exceptional player."