Robin van Persie does NOT feel under pressure to fill Thierry
Henry's goal-scoring boots this season.
The Frenchman has been the spearhead of the Arsenal attack for the
past eight seasons and his departure to Barcelona over the summer
means extra responsibility on those remaining.
Despite missing the second half of last season, Van Persie was
still Arsenal's top scorer with 13 and showed his return to
form on Sunday with a superb late winner against Inter to lift the
Emirates Cup. Although he is the most experienced of Arsène
Wenger's striking quartet for the coming campaign, he does not
accept the onus is solely on him.
"No, I don't feel the pressure at all," he said.
"It's not my aim to be the top scorer. My aim is to
play good football with this team. I think we showed that against
Inter.
"A lot of players are saying 'oh, I have to be the top
scorer'. But for me the first thing is to play football. Of
course there are lots of responsibilities because you are playing
in front of 60,000 people.
"You play to win things, yes. But I play football because I
like it. I will destroy that feeling if I say to myself I have to
score at least 20 goals or 15 goals. Things have to come out of
nothing and this is what happened against Inter. I wasn't
expecting that goal. It just came out of nothing."
Before this weekend, Van Persie admitted to some nerves about
returning to Emirates Stadium for the first time since breaking his
foot in the act of scoring the equaliser against Manchester United
in January.
"I'd been out for six months," said the 23-year-old.
"That is way too long. I was just so happy that I'm back.
"I was in good shape, I was playing alright and then,
'bang', out of nothing you are back in Holland having
treatment every day. It was quite hard.
"But I'm happy to be playing and scoring for the fans once
again. I was really missing that in the last six months."
