Robin van Persie Set to Sign New Gunners Contract

Although there have been several speculations about Arsenal’s in-form Dutch skipper Robin van Persie’s future and the interest he has attracted from the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester City and Barcelona, a new report from a top journalist has suggested that the striker is all set to extend his contract that will keep him at the Emirates Stadium.

The news was revealed on Sunday morning on the Sunday Supplement, which is a TV show on Sky Sports. During the show, Paul Smith, a journalist with The Sunday Mirror, stated quite firmly that the Dutchman will sign a new contract with Arsenal.

Although The Mirror, on Saturday, did run an article that linked van Persie with Real Madrid, Paul Smith, speaking live on Sunday morning, was far more up to date as the group of journalists, also invited to the show, are respected all over England and will probably not to take part in any kind of gossip apart from the real news.

More reports about the current van Persie situation at Arsenal are yet to surface, according to a Footylatest.com report.

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Adams: I’ve been texting advice to Robin

There is a reason why Tony Adams earned the mantle Mr Arsenal and it is very evident that coaching several thousand miles away from N5 will never dilute his timeless relationship with the club.

The club’s most successful captain, honoured today with his own statue outside The Emirates, may not be a day-to-day presence in and around the dressing-room, but that doesn’t mean he’s not still working his inspirational magic.

While fans have called on the old guard to be more involved in Arsene Wenger’s coaching set-up Adams has made clear he’s not as far removed from events at London Colney as people might have thought.

Speaking in The Telegraph to former teammate Alan Smith, the club’s legendary number 6 revealed he is in regular contact with current captain Robin van Persie and has passed on a few ideas on how to bolster his position as the team’s leader.

“I’ve been texting RVP,” said Adams. “I think he’s a nice guy and was always captaincy material but, before, he just didn’t have enough support. It was much easier for me in my time. I had six or seven lieutenants around me, people who could also take charge.

“So that was something I said to him – get some players around you to back you up. You can’t do it alone. And to be fair, I think Per [Mertesacker] has been a big help. He’s been a good ally in the dressing room from what I hear. Before, there was conflict but now there seems to be a lot more togetherness.”

Adams isn’t the only statue-honoured legend to praise the free-scoring Dutchman. Training alongside Robin during the week and watching him bang the goals in at the weekend, Thierry Henry also spoke warmly about his former teammate and successor.

“What can I say about Robin?,” said Henry to the Arsenal's Official Website “I saw him come in here and at the very beginning he wasn't the easiest guy to deal with, like I wasn’t I guess.

“But it’s amazing to see how he has improved. That tells you how intelligent a player he is.

“I’m just in admiration. What he is doing right now, thank God he is playing for us and doing well. It’s nice to see a player improve.

“I’m just saying that what Van Persie is doing now, in terms of not just goals but ratio of goals, apart from [Cristiano] Ronaldo and [Lionel] Messi it is ridiculous.

Idolised by the fans and with the club’s greatest captain, manager and goal scorer directing praise in his direction, there can be no doubt in the Dutchman’s mind that he is loved by everyone associated with The Arsenal. Surely that’s worth something when it comes to negotiating a new contract. Arseblog News dearly hopes so.

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Match Report: Arsenal 1-0 Everton

Robin van Persie’s spectacular second half volley was enough to beat a stubborn Everton side as Arsenal secured three vital points on their 125^th anniversary.

The Dutchman’s effort lifts Arsene Wenger’s side into the Champions League position for the first time this season and sets the Gunners up nicely ahead of a tough away fixture with Manchester City.

As expected Thomas Vermaelen was handed the responsibility of covering for Andre Santos and Kieran Gibbs in the left-back position, Laurent Koscielny partnering Per Mertesacker in the centre of defence and Johan Djourou starting on the right. The midfield and attacking unit was the same that beat Wigan 4-0 last week.

After an emotional tribute to legends of days gone by, the first half was a pretty forgettable affair; the sight of messrs McLintock, George, Wilson, Limpar, Pires, Henry failing to inspire the class of 2011.

Time after time Arsenal attempted to penetrate Everton’s high line with through balls, but despite wriggling free of his markers Theo Walcott too often found himself offside. On the one occasion the England winger did time his run he opted to pass to Gervinho who squandered the opportunity.

The Ivorian nearly made amends minutes later but despite hitting hard low angled drive, Tim Howard got down well to save. Aaron Ramsey further frustrated the home crowd by clipping the cross bar having wriggled free in the box.

Everton hadn’t mustered a shot on target by half time with Wenger’s four centre backs looking calm and composed on the ball. Louis Saha looked relatively disinterested up front for the Toffees while Tim Cahill and Marouane Fellaini produced below par performances.

You hoped the Gunners might up the tempo in the second half, but aside from a couple of tasty dribbles by Walcott it looked increasingly likely that Everton would follow Fulham’s lead in holding out for a clean sheet. That the away side opted to replace Saha for defender Distin just after the hour mark pretty much summed up the extent of their ambition.

In games like this you sometimes need something special to make the difference. Van Persie’s left foot was that difference today. After a 69 relatively low profile minutes the striker came alive. Picked out by a beautiful lofted diagonal ball by Alex Song, the club captain followed the line of the ball before perfectly arrowing a low volley in off the post. It was an extraordinary goal and arguably one of the best the Emirates has witnessed. Even Thierry enjoyed it – the Frenchman standing to his feet with the net still rippling.

Very little happened in the last twenty minutes. Van Persie nearly doubled the lead with a header from a corner before Everton sub McAleny flashed a cracking effort just wide of Szczesny’s goal in the dying moments.

Relief washed over those supporters who braved a bitterly cold afternoon to see the game through to the final whistle. It wasn’t a memorable match, but it was a memorable goal on a day all about remembering the past.

As former manager George Allison once said: “It’s one-nil to The Arsenal. That’s the way we like it.”

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Arsenal get bad news over Santos

Arsene Wenger has revealed that the injury sustained by Andre Santos in Tuesday night’s Champions League game is more serious than first thought.

An initial diagnosis of 2-3 weeks has now been upgraded to ‘several’ as Wenger spoke to the press this afternoon.”The bad news we have is that we lost Santos for a while”, he said. “The ankle injury is more severe than expected. More than three weeks.

“He will see a specialist in the coming days.”

Many have questioned the wisdom of playing our only fit full back in a game which didn’t matter and it is, I suppose, a gamble which didn’t pay off in hindsight. However, hindsight is all powerful and if you could have hindsight before the fact you’d be a psychic in which case you’d be labelled a fraud and a charlatan. Because that’s what you’d be.

However, it is bad news for the Gunners and Wenger must now choose between Thomas Vermaelen and Ignasi Miquel for tomorrow’s game against Everton as Kieran Gibbs is still some way from fitness.

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