Thomas Vermaelen
Vermaelen - Bendtner came back brilliantly
By Nick Teale
Thomas Vermaelen has hailed Nicklas Bendtner's hat-trick on Tuesday night as a "brilliant comeback".
The Dane missed a number of chances in Arsenal's 3-1 win over Burnley at the weekend. However, the 22-year-old responded by netting three times in the win over Porto, becoming the first man to score a European hat-trick at Emirates Stadium.
The performance impressed centre-half Vermaelen, who believes Bendtner gives Arsenal an extra dimension in attack.
"Bendtner came back brilliantly," he said. "As a striker you have to stay confident all the time because there are some games when you don't score and that was the case on Saturday.
"Against Porto he responded brilliantly. He didn't only score three goals, he won a lot of headers and that is important for the team.
"He doesn't struggle with confidence and that is a good thing for a striker. You always need a good centre-forward who scores goals for the team, he did that against Porto and I hope he will score a lot of goals in the future.
"For us it's good that Nicklas is there, you can give the long ball and he wins headers and you can put opponents under pressure. Sometimes that is really good. It gives you more options.
"He is still young, he has a lot of qualities - he's here at Arsenal so that means he has a lot of qualities. I hope he will score a lot of goals in the future to help us.
"On Saturday he was still confident and I appreciate that because for a striker you have to be like that all the time. After Porto he was no different to how he was against Burnley, he was just happy with the three goals and how he performed."
[Wednesday, March 10, 2010]
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