Van Persie - We have to prove mental strength

By Richard Clarke

Arsenal have to prove their mental strength in each and every game this season, according to Robin Van Persie.

The Dutchman feels Saturday’s second-half comeback against Everton demonstrated, once again, that Arsène Wenger’s side have no problem with their psyche.

The 25-year-old striker, who scored the crucial second goal, argues his young Arsenal side learnt from last season when they led the table for so long but faltered towards the end.

"You are playing at home with 60,000 people behind you and it is a bit disappointing when you go 1-0 down," he said. "But you have to think positive.

"I missed a few chances and was not happy about that but you have to keep going and that is one of the reasons why you play at the top.

"At this time, in football, the mental aspect is really important, maybe more than 30 or 40 per cent [of the game]. If you look at the matches against Bolton and Blackburn, the mental aspect was more important than the way we wanted to play.

“I do not think it is a real big problem for us but every single time we have to prove it again.
 
“Last season we played fantastic for three-quarters of the season and then suddenly everything fell down.

“I do not know if the reason was mentality, maybe it was a bit of everything, but we learned a lot from last year.

“The season is long. We've lost some points but we've won some as well so we just have to stay positive.”

[Monday, October 20, 2008]

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