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Van Persie: my team is simply immense
Wayne Veysey and Michael Hart, Evening Standard20 Sep 2007
Robin van Persie today hailed Arsenal as "unique" in European football after helping them extend their magnificent start to the season.
The Dutchman scored the second goal in a comprehensive Champions League win last night against Sevilla, who had gone into the game with a 100 per cent record in the Spanish league this season.
Van Persie said: "This is a unique team in Europe. The joy everyone is playing with is tremendous. We are a young side but the qualities are immense.
"We're unique because, as we say in Holland, the nose is pointed at the same direction. When you come to Arsenal, like me, I was a bit of an individual. But the boss taught me how to play together and that you get more out of your career when you work together.
"He brought this learning to everyone. If you are new you get your chances to play and slowly you think the Arsenal way. I know everyone is thinking the Arsenal way and that can make a big difference. Not many teams are playing the way we play."
Van Persie highlighted the 2-1 pre-season win over Inter Milan in the Emirates Cup as the moment when he felt the team could be on the verge of something special.
It is the spirit among the squad, which impresses the Dutchman most. He said: "The togetherness in this team is unbelievable. Everyone wants to run for each another, everyone fight for each other and everyone gets their stuff.
"For example, [Cesc] Fabregas is playing fantastic but he lets other people play as well. That is what I really like about this team. Everyone is thankful they are playing in this team. Everyone is giving and if you give, you accept."
Yet the striker says it would not be a failure if Wenger's youthful team do not win a trophy this season.
He said: "I know what you guys want me to say - that we can be champions - but it is difficult. I know what this team are capable of [but]I don't think we have to be the champions this year.
"Let's say within three years we have to win a few trophies. That is more realistic. You can't say 'we will win this, we will win that'. Hopefully it happens this year but it can happen next year as well. We have big opponents to play."
This was Arsenal's seventh victory in eight games this season, a start that Arsene Wenger described as "almost perfect". However, the Frenchman has been in the job too long to get carried away by such a great start. The Arsenal coach, who completes his 11th year in charge this month, said: "We must keep our feet on the ground. We can still improve in a lot of areas.
"We lost balls last night that we shouldn't have lost. Once or twice defensively we weren't as clean as we should have been.
"But I was pleased we didn't panic when we were under pressure. We looked mature tactically for 90 minutes and there is no doubt that we have improved from two years ago. The challenge for us this season is to show how far we have come."
Again the fans rose to young Fabregas, the driving force in Arsenal's midfield. It was Fabregas who opened the scoring in the 27th minute with a shot that took a deflection off Julien Escude on its way into the net.
Although it was his sixth goal of the season, his contribution as the creative force in midfield was just as important as he laid on secondhalf goals for Van Persie and Eduardo da Silva.
"Maybe 3-0 is a little flattering because we were a bit lucky with the first goal," said Wenger.
