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Bendtner - Fans made my return emotional

Nicklas Bendtner says he was overwhelmed by the Arsenal fans' reaction towards him when he made his comeback against West Bromwich Albion on Wednesday night.

The Danish striker had not featured for the Club in over two years but started in the Capital One Cup tie at the Hawthorns and set up Thomas Eisfeld's goal before converting in the penalty shoot-out.

After the game, Bendtner posted an emotional message on Instagram in which he thanked the travelling supporters and admitted that "hearing my song again made my heart skip".

"The fans giving [me] that reception, I didn't expect that. It made me very emotional. I think that's the only way really to explain it"

Nicklas Bendtner

"It was just the feeling I had, being back in the shirt and playing," Bendtner told Arsenal Player. "The fans giving [me] that reception, I didn't expect that. It made me very emotional. I think that's the only way really to explain it.

"I'm not a guy who feels a lot of things and talks about my feelings and stuff like that but I felt something when that happened and that's very unusual for me. I felt I needed to say it.

"It makes a huge difference [having the fans' support]. It's something I would have thought about because in the whole transfer window situation, no one denied the fact that I was trying to leave. The boss also said that they were happy to let me go.

"Then a lot of things happened, a lot of things got turned upside down. In football you can never say never. I ended up being here.

"I'm a professional player. My job is to do the best for the Club. Even if I wanted to leave, I've still got a lot of feelings for the Club. It's not a difficult thing for me to come back."

Bendtner accepts that he was prepared to leave Arsenal during the summer. In the end, he stayed and now the 25-year-old is keen to prove himself again in north London.

"One minute you're going and the next you're staying," he said. "It's part of life and you know that this situation could happen. Then again, this is my job - to play for Arsenal.

"Even though I wanted to leave, now that I'm here, I don't feel bad about it. I'm quite happy still and I still have a lot of good friends in the team.

"I know the Club inside out so the transition period is not going to be huge because I know the way we play and the way everyone thinks.

"To get back into the team is just a matter of fitness and playing 120 minutes, which I did on Wednesday and didn't expect after being out for a while. I was very pleased with that.

"I'm just going to crack on now, keep working hard and get back to full fitness to help the Club achieve the goals they want."

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