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Thomas Vermaelen today claimed he is not daunted by the challenge of keeping Wayne Rooney quiet at Old Trafford.
The 23-year-old has formed an instant rapport with William Gallas at the heart of Arsenal's defence and will be charged with the responsibility of stopping Rooney in tomorrow's clash against the Premier League champions.
Rooney has scored three goals in as many games but Vermaelen insists the prospect of pitting himself against the best strikers in the game was partly behind his decision to leave Ajax in a £10million deal this summer.
He said: "We will see how it goes against him. For me it is nice to play United. It will be my first time playing against Wayne Rooney but I am not nervous. You have to look forward to playing these kind of games and against players like him.
"At Arsenal, if you play in the Premier League every game is a hard game. In Holland, sometimes you had a game at home and it was easy. But here you have to fight hard in every game and you look forward to each match but this is a special game.
"United sold Cristiano Ronaldo but they still have very good players. When I saw them last year, they played very well as a team."
Reader views (2)
I can't understand why you don't show how fletcher puts down Arshavin, there was really PENALTY that only mr.Dean the old traffordish referee didn't see....
The abscence of English players on the pitch is not good reason to behave with such chauvinist attitude....The case of Eduardo ((dive))is expressing a hostile mentality towards a foreigners players and what is revolting is the day he got his leg broken there wasn't such noise...And I still refuse that birmingham player has reacted sportively he should be banned for at least one year....
- Dessack, london mitcham, 01/09/2009 07:12
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From what I have seen of Thomas Vermaelen, he's just what we need, good in the tackle, very quick and good in the air. I think that he'll be a great signing & a bargain to boot.
Arsene's done it again!!
Ray Mummery, London
- Ray Mummery, London, England, 28/08/2009 15:31
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