"You have the French, Paris St-Germain, coming in. Traditionally Porto are always in there but, especially, I believe the Germans have improved."
One striking change is that, of the 16 teams who qualified for the knockout phase last season, only five will return this year, including Arsenal and Bayern Munich but also Barcelona, Real Madrid and AC Milan.
"That shows you how quickly it changes and how difficult it is to be in there," said Wenger.
With the Munich squad containing the core of the German national team over the past decade, Arsenal have two players in Mertesacker and Podolski who will know exactly what to expect.
It was intriguing then that Mertesacker should suggest on Thursday that Germany's mid-season break could actually favour Arsenal by the time of the first leg on Feb 19.
"They have a little break now and can rest a bit," he said. "Maybe it's a good opportunity for us to face them in February because we will be in our rhythm.
"We will hopefully go through the Christmas period in a strong way. We have a lot of potential and Bayern know they will face an Arsenal squad that will be strong in February.
"Lukas Podolski and me especially are looking forward to it because we want to go back to Germany and win games for our new team.
"We have to be consistent until February. We have to show that it's not only our potential which makes us a good side. We hope we can get into a good rhythm."
Mertesacker, though, is acutely aware of Munich's quality and, despite individuals like Franck Ribery and Arjen Robben, believes that their success is underpinned by the team ethic.
"They have strong individual players and have created a team – they stick together, that's what matters," he said.
Although yesterday's draw was hardly kind to Arsenal, especially after being paired with AC Milan and Barcelona at the same stage in the last two years, they really only had themselves to blame.
Victory in their last match of the group phase, away to Olympiakos, would have been enough to take Schalke's place at the top of Group B and a more inviting fixture against Galatasaray.
With Arsenal also fifth in the Premier League, some 15 points behind Manchester United, Rummenigge even felt the need yesterday to warn against complacency.
"We enter this match as the slight favourites but we can make the mistake of underestimating them," he said.
"Arsenal have struggled at times in the league over the last few months, which a look upon the standings in the Premier League will tell you.
"We want to set the foundations with a good performance in London that would make things easier for us in our home game."
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