Our new number ten always had the talent to take over from our last great striker, Mr. Henry, but injuries have meant that he has only sporadically proven that he could do the job. The last couple of weeks have seen him find his form again and we have been given an impressive reminder of just how good a footballer he can be. We have a number of players who can maintain posession but having a player of van Persie’s decisive quality that high up the pitch means that we will always have a cutting edge too, something which we could also rely on during Henry’s time at the club.

A violently powerful left foot, quick feet, great vision and enough pace mean that he provides a constant threat to the opposition and Wigan could not cope on Saturday. They could only muster two attempts on Sczcesny’s goal in the entire match and were completely overwhelmed by the pace of our forward play which was given a brilliant end product by van Persie.

The Dutchman scored three goals, missed a penalty and struck the woodwork. His first was leathered home from Song’s pass in the 21^st minute but despite some fluid football, Al Habsi pulled off some improbable saves to restrict us to a one goal lead at the half-time whistle. We had to wait until 13 minutes in to the second half before our domination was rewarded with a second. Cesc Fabregas brilliantly picked out van Persie with a lofted through ball and he expertly volleyed the ball into the far corner. It was a subtly outstanding goal, the brilliance disguised by the simplicity.

The captain was then brought down from behind in the penalty area, leading to a sending off and the perfect opportunity for van Persie to finally secure his first Arsenal hat-trick having registered a brace on 9 previous occasions. However, that unusual stat seemed to cloud his judgement and he ballooned the ball, with trademark excessive power, high over the bar to become the fourth Arsenal player to miss a penalty this season.

Such was our dominance he still managed  to hit the post with a curled effort from 20 yards before Walcott held up the ball deep in the Wigan area for van Persie to run on to and slash past Al Habsi into the net. Van Persie’s tendency to strike everything at maximum power is a testament to his technique but also has the entire stadium in fear of his biscuit legs imploding at any moment. IF he can stay clear of his next, seemingly inevitable, injury until the end of the season we will finally see his Arsenal career take off after years trundling around the runway.

Optimism is suddenly rife at the Grove after we scored three goals for the third consecutive match and momentum can carry a team to great things. Wenger’s rotation policy in the last couple of weeks has kept our key players fit and fresh but there are still nearly 4 months of the season to go and we currently only have two fit central defenders. The manager still has time to bolster the squad and give himself an insurance policy but we all know that just wouldn’t be the Wenger way.

Photo: Action Images

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