Robin van Persie promises he'll be fine without Emmanuel Adebayor

James Olley
21 Sep 2009

Robin van Persie has insisted he feels no extra pressure to carry Arsenal's goal-scoring burden this season in the wake of Emmanuel Adebayor's departure.

The Gunners failed to bring in a striker this summer after an attempt to sign Bordeaux's Marouane Chamakh collapsed over a refusal to meet the French club's asking price.

Manager Arsene Wenger has adopted a new 4-3-3 formation with Van Persie as the focal point of the attack and Saturday's 4-0 victory over Wigan continued the trend of goals being shared around the side.

The only thing missing from that comprehensive win was a Van Persie strike but although the Dutchman, who still bears the scars from his first reunion with Adebayor last week, admits he is still adapting to his new role, he believes the team are showing enough to suggest they can embark on a long unbeaten run with some favourable fixtures ahead.

He said: "The way we are doing it now is that everyone is sharing the goals. I'm quite happy with that but I should score more personally, especially against Wigan. But as long as we share the goals and everyone is passing it at the right moment, I am happy.

"If one striker scores 40 or 50 goals I would rely on him. But that happens once every 10 years. I'm quite happy to share the goals.

"But I don't feel that I'm at the top of my game as a main striker yet. I have to improve on many things but it is quite new and the main thing is that the boss really backs me on this one. He really thinks I can succeed as he has a lot of trust in me."

The demands on Van Persie will be significantly reduced for as long as Thomas Vermaelen continues his remarkable start to life at Arsenal.

The £10million signing from Ajax scored twice to take his tally to four - no Arsenal player has netted more - and Van Persie said: "The first one showed he is very, very strong from corners and free-kicks and that is very important. Even if we play badly we can always score from set-pieces. I would have been proud of his second goal.

"He is raised in Holland. I am not saying every Dutch player is good technically but when you are raised in Holland - especially at Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV - you are brought up getting the ball, moving it first touch, move again, pass, move. He was at Ajax since 15 so it is in his system for a long, long time."

Wenger, who appears to have pulled off another masterstroke in the transfer market, was similarly delighted with Vermaelen and revealed he had earmarked him as an Arsenal player when he got involved in an argument with Van Persie after a strong tackle during the Amsterdam Tournament in 2007.

He said: "I liked him when he played against Thierry Henry and kept him quiet, and against Van Persie he also kept him quiet in Amsterdam. I thought 'Oh', and remembered the name. I put him in my brain and kept it in there.

"As a centre-back you need to be fully committed. He is now 24, and at that time of the Van Persie incident he was maybe 21, and he wanted to show he could compete."

But following his recent criticism of Manchester United's anti-football tactics, Wenger again complained about what he argues are deliberate fouls designed to break up play and revealed he may consult the Football Association over what action they can take.

He added: "I think I will try and speak to the FA, yes. We have already talked about it at a UEFA meeting because in the modern game you play always against 10 defenders.

"So when you can get four against four, or three against three and you get punished and have to start again from zero, it is difficult. This also goes for Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool, everybody."