Arsenal striker Robin van Persie credits improved fitness and a more team-based approach for the performances that have already seen him bag 14 goals this season.

 

With previous seasons blighted by injury, this campaign has seen a problem-free van Persie contribute both in terms of goals scored and overall team work. The 25 year-old Dutch international had admitted that he was partly to blame as his desire to play led him to question medical diagnosis and play through pain, a trait that he now realises was not ’healthy’. "Technically, I am not doing anything all that different to what I did before," he said. "The biggest difference is that I have learned, in various ways, how to be more effective for the team.”

Fellow goal-grabber Nicklas Bendtner has also questioned club employees in the past - as Emmanuel Adebayor and William Gallas can testify - but now is unhappy at a news report alleging that he believes he should start every week. Bendtner insists that a Danish press interview has been taken out of context. “They asked me a lot of questions and the press over here have taken my answers and twisted them out of proportion“ said the 21 year-old.