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Van Persie eyes festive return

16 Nov 2009 - 08:11:49

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Arsenal striker Robin van Persie hopes to be back in action before the festive period after a scan revealed that he had partially ruptured ankle ligaments while on international duty.

It had been feared that the in-form 26-year-old Netherlands international would be sidelined for three months after suffering the injury in the opening stages of Saturday's friendly against Italy.

Van Persie had to be taken to hospital following a strong challenge from Giorgio Chiellini.

"The prognosis is that I will be out for four to six weeks," Van Persie told Dutch television station NOS.

Earlier, it had been feared that a mid-February return was more likely after a Dutch Football Association (KNVB) told BBC Sport: "It's a serious injury. We don't know how long it will take him to recover from it.

"It's impossible to put an exact time-frame on it because some players heal more quickly than others. It's not a short-term injury."

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger recently admitted that he was keeping his fingers crossed that the latest round of international games did not result in a spate of injury problems.

"You can have two or three difficult games in November," said the Frenchman. "You have decisive games in the Champions League and the players go on international duty.

"Now we have that break and all the players fly away so let's hope they all fly back in good shape.

"After that we go to Sunderland and that is always a difficult place to go."