Arsene Wenger believes that Italy's presence in the Euro 2000 final will boost France's chances of making history in Rotterdam on Sunday evening.

The Arsenal manager felt in midweek that his compatriots would have encountered a more exacting task had Holland been able to overcome the Italians in last night's dour semi-final that was decided on a penalty shoot-out.

'With home advantage and with their fans behind them, Holland would have been a very hard team to beat. There is no question in my mind about that,' said Wenger. 'It has been suggested in the past that the team hosting the tournament can be affected because they have lost their edge.

'That has come about because they have had no competitive football for two years, while the other teams in the finals have had to fight their way through the qualifying competition and are battle-hardened. I totally disagree with that. You look at the number of teams who have hosted World Cups - England, Germany, Argentina, France - and they have all won.

'The hosts may not have been involved in competitive games but the players have with their clubs. And Holland were beginning to look better and better. It is better for France that Italy won. It is still 50-50 and that is the case in most finals. But if Holland had been there it would have been harder because of the support they would have got.' The prospect of a Holland-France clash was regarded as the dream final. If Italy adopt the same approach as they did last night, it has all the makings of a war of attrition. Italy's strength is their masterful defending and for all the criticism heaped on Dino Zoff's team, Wenger can only admire the organisation in front of their highly-competent goalkeeper Francesco Toldo.

'He has played well but he also has the confidence that a goalkeeper gets with a superb defence in front of him,' said Wenger. And no defender has impressed Wenger more than Alessandro Nesta.

'He has been fantastic for Italy,' he said. 'He organises everybody around him and Italy are very difficult to break down. They rely on counterattack and they have a superb record in their goals scored for chances created ratio. They are nearly always on target and often score.

'They are a team that can handle a lot of pressure and this comes from their experience in Serie A. They are never bothered by the big occasion because in Italy, these players have big games every week. They face some of the best strikers in the world in that league so they are used to handling the top players. That makes them very dangerous opponents.'

But Wenger still prefers them to Holland as opponets for France who he believes are even more formidable than the team that won the World Cup.

'And they still have the hunger to be successful that all successful sides have,' said Wenger. 'Players like Marcel Desailly. He is a fantastic competitor. The harder the game, the more important the game, then the better he likes it and the better he plays. He and the other players have enormous mental strength.

'They are a team that combines power, competitiveness and technique. And players like Patrick Vieira and Thierry Henry are getting better all the time. They also have the player who I regard as the best in the world.'

Wenger was referring to Zinedine Zidane, who has shown in Euro 2000 that he has no equal. 'There was no comparison between him and Luis Figo of Portugal in the semi-final,' Wenger said. 'In the end it was no match. Another quality that has come through is the way the players have accepted that it is a squad situation when you play for a successful team. Players accept it if they are left out and there is a great unity among the players.

'They have shown they can handle success - and they want more. That desire is very important. They thrive on the pressure of big games.'

But Wenger is still reluctant to predict a French victory in the Stadion Feyenoord. As a Frenchman, he wants it, he hopes for it but is reluctant to say it will happen.

It boils down to French flair against Italian defensive resilience. 'France have the players to win the match but Italy have frustrated many teams down the years. Holland are just the latest. I just hope France are not the next.'