Rovers go to the Emirates Stadium after putting in a solid display against the Seagulls and the boss feels that the result shows how far Rovers have come in the last few weeks.
A second-half penalty from Vicente rescued a point for the home side after defender Scott Dann had headed Rovers in front in the first half, albeit against the run of play.
"It's an ideal warm-up. We'll have to concede a lot of territory against Arsenal but we want to be part of an attractive tie," said Appleton to reporters.
"Our quality was not a good as when we played Ipswich last Saturday but, as the away side, we're bound to be a lot happier with the result than Brighton.
"Six or seven weeks ago we would have lost a game like that 4-1 or 5-1. There's more about us now.
"We had to deal with a lot of balls in the box and we showed a lot of steel."
