FOOTBALL
HIGHER VAN ON RIGHT ROAD AGAIN
POINTS TAKEN: Victory at Chelsea must be followed by more consistency says Robin van Persie
By Tony Banks
ROBIN VAN PERSIE knows all Arsenal’s hard work against Chelsea will be wasted if they fail to beat Wigan on Saturday.
Van Persie struck twice as the Gunners reinvigorated their Premier League chances with a thrilling 2-1 win over leaders Chelsea on Sunday. But he knows only too well how his infuriatingly inconsistent side have failed to capitalise on such successes this season.
Arsene Wenger’s exciting but raw young team upset another of the major players for the title when they deservedly overcame Manchester United 2-1 at the Emirates. But they lost their next two league games against lesser opposition, without scoring, crashing against Aston Villa
and then being outplayed at Manchester City.
Now, Dutchman Van Persie has warned that if Arsenal allow that kind of slackness to overcome them again against Wigan, or at Middlesbrough next week, they will never maintain their title credentials.
Van Persie, troubled by injuries and patchy form for much of this campaign, showed what he can do at Stamford Bridge as he claimed two superb poacher’s goals – the first from an offside position – to wipe out Johan Djourou’s first-half own-goal.
It should be a pivotal win, but Van Persie is aware of the pitfalls.
“We will see in the next game whether we are really through our bad period, because this is what it’s all about, consistency,” he said.
“In the past couple of weeks we have not really been consistent. For example, we had a fantastic game against Manchester United and then in the next game we lost against Villa. This is what it’s about, so we will see. If we win the next game against Wigan, we will be making a big step.”
Before that Wigan test, Arsenal face Carling Cup giant-killers Burnley, who turfed out Chelsea in the last round, with Wenger likely to roll out his youngsters and fringe players tonight.
But it is in the league where the Gunners desperately need to find consistency, and where results really matter for the long-term health of the club – especially with Villa leading the pack breathing down their necks in search of a place in the top four.
Van Persie added: “Whether we are back in the title race or not is a big question. There is still a long way to go, but we got a big, big result at Chelsea.
“I am really happy about our team spirit because, if you look at the past couple of weeks, it has been difficult.
“We have been dropping points and that has been frustrating. We were great at Chelsea, especially in that last 15 to 20 minutes. We knew it was going to be really difficult, but we stuck together and had a lot of self-belief. Winning it like we did, we now need to bring this team effort to the next game.
“We knew Chelsea would throw absolutely everything at us in those last few minutes, but if you stick with it, stay together and fight for every ball, you have a chance. We did that and that was great.”
Striker Van Persie made no apology for the fact his first goal was offside. “A couple of years ago I scored a goal against Chelsea and I was onside, but the ref gave it offside. On Sunday maybe it was a little bit offside, but it counted and that’s what matters.”
The previously ineffective Emmanuel Adebayor came to life after the equaliser and set up Van Persie’s winning goal with a superb knockdown.
Adebayor said: “People wrote us off in the Premier League and now we have sent out a message to everyone that we believe in ourselves and can do something this season.”
Arsenal will use three players who were on the bench at Stamford Bridge – forwards Nicklas Bendtner and Carlos Vela as well as Mikael Silvestre – at Burnley. “With all the players we have out this may be an even younger side than the ones we have fielded in the Carling Cup before,” said Wenger.
