Arsenal hot-shot Van Persie reveals the secret of his goal-scoring streak



By Rob Draper for The Mail on Sunday

You would not normally pinpoint a West End nightclub hosting a football club's night out or a Rihanna karaoke evening as significant building blocks in a Premier League title challenge. In fact, those combinations would usually spark alarm in a manager.

But when Arsenal players gathered at Whisky Mist, the exclusive Mayfair night spot last week, and when Per Mertesacker performed a number by the raunchy singer at another recent social night, Arsene Wenger would have been relatively relaxed because in charge of proceedings was his new skipper, Robin van Persie.

Red hot: Robin van Persie just can't stop scoring

And that is not just because Van Persie does not drink. It is also because the Dutch striker is the new controlling force at the club, rebuilding team spirit in the aftermath of the departures of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri, marshalling players on and off the pitch.

For league leaders Manchester City face a side unrecognisable from the shambolic team that lost 8-2 to Manchester United and 4-3 at Blackburn. Having taken 22 points out of a possible 24 in the last two months, a win today will put Arsenal just six points behind City, something even Wenger would not have considered in those gloomy summer days.

Clearly Van Persie has been instrumental in sparking that revival. If there were a vote now for player of the season, only today's opponent, David Silva, would get close to Van Persie. In 2011 he has scored 33 Premier League goals and he requires four more over the Christmas period to break Alan Shearer's record for a calendar year.

What is less evident is the important role Van Persie has had off the pitch since taking over the captaincy from Fabregas. Under the Dutchman, Arsenal are developing a camaraderie off the pitch where club insiders say the influence of Van Persie and his wife, Bouchra, has been enormous.

Team-mates: (L-R) Andre Santos, Robin van Persie amd Mikel Arteta celebrate Arsenal's victory over Chelsea

As well as the Christmas party, the couple have been organising golf days and nights out at restaurants for the team and their partners. Insiders say the squad are socialising in a way that has not been seen for years, with Bouchra taking care of the wives and girlfriends and her husband mobilising the players.

And in doing so they seem to be forging a team spirit. Arsenal were once labelled fragile but now appear to have developed a backbone.

The addition of older players has helped, notably Mikel Arteta, who is vocal and demonstrative in the dressing room and Mertesacker, who, despite his troubles adapting to the Premier League, is already demonstrating to team-mates that he will be a solid professional.

'Of course, the departure of Cesc was going to be a setback,' said Van Persie in an interview published this week to Dutch Magazine Voetbal.

'There are only five players in the world the calibre of Cesc and that leaves a gap, a massive one.

happy couple: Robin van Persie and wife Bouchra

'But in end the club signed a number of players. And I'm really happy we didn't just get young talent. The boss has decided to choose experience. And you notice that experience in their performances.'

And by performances, Van Persie means not just on the pitch, but also in the traditional football club initiation of singing a song when a player signs for the club.

'You can see some of the lads we have signed have been around as professionals for a while,' said Van Persie. 'They jumped on the chair and did their act. It was hilarious. Mertesacker had the performance of the night. He did Rihanna and it was brilliant. We really had a top night as a squad.

TOP SCORERS IN A CALENDAR YEAR

A Shearer (Blackburn)

1995 36 (in 42 games)

T Henry (Arsenal)

2004 34 (in 39)

R van Persie (Arsenal)

2011 33 (in 32)

A Shearer (Blackburn)

1994 30 (in 41)

L Ferdinand (QPR/Newc)

1995 30 (in 37)

R van Nistelrooy (Man U)

2003 30 (in 34)

'[Becoming captain] has been a kind of natural process. Off the pitch you notice it. I organise the group social outings, which ranges from a night out to a golf day. 'If I didn't do it, no one else would but I really enjoy doing this. And now I'm getting help from Thomas Vermaelen and different players. Everyone joins in organising.'

Van Persie's commitment to the team is enormously encouraging for the club. He may be out of contract in 2013, not currently in talks about a new deal and unlikely even to consider the club's offer until the end of the season, but he is not behaving like a man who wants to leave.

Living in one of north London's plusher suburbs, with two young children, he appears to be happily settled, which will be a discouragement to today's opponents City, the team that would be poised to move to sign him if Van Persie did decide to leave. 'When I first came here we used to beat Man City 6-0,' said Van Persie, possibly recalling a 5-1 win at Maine Road in 2003, a year before he joined the club.

'But the Premier League has changed so much since then. I'd read that Man City have spent £500million in the past five years and Tottenham £400m. Things have changed but it doesn't mean we don't have a chance. We stick to our principles and our philosophies as a club.'

Van Persie's role on the pitch is statistically demonstrable, with 46 goals in 50 games for club and country in 2011, but he admits he has adapted his game of late. There was a time when he seemed to delight in an assist rather than a goal. Not now.

'You can tell by the goals I score that some of them come through pure willpower,' said Van Persie.

'You can tell by my face that the ball has to go in. I don't give a damn how.

'A few years ago I used to weigh up the options, think whether there was a chip, or a back-heel for a beautiful finish or whether someone else was free in front of goal. Now I'm more ruthless, though I can still enjoy a good assist [he has 10 this year]!'

For Wenger, the evolution of Van Persie should be a matter of some pride. He smiles wryly when he remembers the 21-yearold he brought from Feyenoord and, in particular, the game against Southampton in February 2005, when Wenger delivered a stern team-talk during the half-time break.

With Arsenal drawing 1-1 and Southampton down to 10 men, Wenger warned his players against making any silly tackles in the second half and the importance of keeping 11 players on the pitch. Do that, he said, and the game would be won.

Yet within six minutes of the restart Van Persie had dived in on Graeme Le Saux, was sent off and Arsenal went on to draw the game.

Wenger warned Van Persie after that match that he would have to change his game if he wanted to be a top Arsenal player and did he not just mean the Dutchman's discipline but his entire playing style.

Turning point: Van Persie sees red at St Mary's

Van Persie recalls asking himself: 'What does he mean?' He badgered members of the Arsenal coaching staff for an answer, but Wenger prefers to set players puzzles rather than give them direct instructions. Eventually , Van Persie says, he found his answer in the example of Robert Pires. 'He was the key,' said Van Persie. 'In the penalty box I can do anything. But in the midfield it is best to keep it simple for the team.' That tallies with the memories of Van Persie's youth team coach at Feyenoord, Henk van Stee, now academy director at Zenit St Petersburg.

'Robin was excellent but at that age he sometimes wanted to go too far,' said Van Stee.

'If he beat one person, he wanted to beat four or five players or the whole team. That's when you have an argument with him.

'When he got older he understood more and more but I think most of this came from Arsene Wenger. Robin grew into a man when he came to England. I think we developed him as footballer but I think his personality was formed in England.'

'Robin for me is a great leader,' said Wenger. 'You would not have predicted that and that's credit to him.

'If you had asked me seven or eight years ago, you would not predict that this guy would be captain at Arsenal Football Club. It's a credit to him that he is because his evolution has been outstanding not only as player but as a human being.'



