Source: Daily_Mail
Robin van Persie delighted to share goalscoring burden for the Gunners
Emmanuel Adebayor may have left Arsenal, but Robin van Persie doesn't feel he is under any extra pressure to take over his former team-mate's goalscoring duties.
The club may have failed to replace Adebayor with long-term target Marouane Chamakh during the summer, but Arsenal still cruised to a 4-0 win over Wigan - even without a goal from Van Perise.
'The way we are doing it now is that everyone is sharing the goals,' Van Persie said.
Van Persie
Team effort: Van Persie is happy to share the limelight - and the goals
'I'm quite happy with that but 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.'
So far, that has surprisingly included defender Thomas Vermaelen, whose two goals at the weekend catapulted him to top of the club's scoring charts, with four to his name already this season.
The Belgian opened the scoring with a header from Van Persie's corner, and then showed his technical prowess with a second goal that he stroked home from 20 yards.
'The first one showed he is very, very strong from corners and free-kicks and that is very important,' Van Persie said. 'Even if we play badly we can always score from set-pieces.
'I would have been proud of his second goal.'
That doesn't mean the 26-year-old is surprised by his team-mate's ability.
'He is raised in Holland,' Van Persie said.
' 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.'
Vermaelen
Double trouble: Vermaelen put the Wigan defence to the sword
Nevertheless, Van Persie believes he will be back as the club's main goalscorer once he has adapted to his new role in the centre of Arsenal's three-man attack.
"I don't feel that I'm at the top of my game as a main striker yet,' he said.
'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 can succeed as he has a lot of trust in me.'
Manager Arsene Wenger seems to have pulled off another transfer coup with the acquisition of £10 million Vermaelen, a player he had first been alerted to in 2007 after an impressive performance for his former club against Arsenal in the pre-season Amsterdam Tournament.
'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 'Ooh', and remembered the name. I put him in my brain and kept it in there.'
Wenger
Anti-football: Wenger will take his concerns to the FA
A strong tackle and subsequent argument with Van Persie during the same game also impressed the Frenchman.
'As a centre-back you need to be fully committed,' Wenger said.
'He is now 24, and at the time of the Van Persie incident he was maybe 21, and he wanted to show he could compete.'
Wenger also revealed he will go to the Football Association with his concerns about the proliferation of deliberate fouls in football, a tactic he believes Manchester United used against his players when the two sides met last month.
"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,' Wenger said.
'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.'
