Robin van Persie believes that the Netherlands must be one of the favourites to win the 2012 European Championships.

The Dutch have been in fine fettle since Bert van Merwijk took over after Euro 2008, and have lost just one competitive match in his entire reign.

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie believes that their record makes the Dutch a force to be reckoned with, and that the Netherlands are ahead of even pedigreed sides like Italy and France.

Speaking to De Telegraaf, he said:  "It is fair to say that Netherlands are one of four, maybe five teams who are the favourites to win Euro 2012. I think that pretty much everyone in Europe will agree with me about that".

"No team has made as much progress as us since the last European Championships. Teams like France and Italy haven't made similar steps forward", he added.

The Netherlands are currently reigning in Group E of the competition, with 27 points from nine fixtures, and will face Sweden on Tuesday in their final qualifying game.