Robin Van Persie has been a sensation in front of goal for Arsenal so far this season, having scored 27 goals in 32 appearance in all competitions for the Gunners.
Van Persie has been at the North London club almost eight years and has become a firm favourite with the club’s fans. Disappointingly for Arsenal however, the 28 year old has spent more than his fair share of time on the sidelines injured, otherwise his goalscoring prowess would be far more pronounced than it is currently. However, he has remained injury free this season and has been a virtual ever present in the team, for which he is now the captain since Cesc Fabregas moved to Barcelona last Summer.
He signed for Arsenal from Feyenoord in 2004 as a long term replacement to the legendary Denis Bergkamp and he has proven a highly adequate replacement. He made his competitive debut for the Gunners in October 2004 in a League Cup game against Manchester City and marked his arrival by scoring the opening goal in a 2-1 win. That first season however was not to be all that successful, Van Persie was considered very immature by many of his team mates and his sending off in a game against Southampton underlined that fact. The red card incident seriously upset his manager who lambasted him publicly and then proceeded to keep him on the bench for the next few games. Injury also caused him to miss games and he ended his first season with just 10 goals in a total of 41 appearances.
Van Persie clearly learned from his mistakes and during the 2005-6 season, he had re-established his popularity and was back as a first team regular. He started off that season with eight goals in eight games and was awarded Premier League Player of the Month for November. Injury once again hampered his first team progress in that season which he finished with 11 goals from 38 games.
Over the next couple of seasons, a combination of injuries and inconsistent form kept his appearances to a minimum. He played only 31 times in 2006-7 and only 23 the following season. He was still finding the net but not at a ratio that he could be favourably compared with Thierry Henry or before him, another legend at the club, Ian Wright. That however all changed in 2008-9, where in the wake of Henry’s departure to Barcelona, Van Persie scored 20 times in 44 games and as a show of his hugely improved all round ability, he was also credited with 15 assists.
Yet again though, injuries kept him out of much of the action in 2009-10, making just 20 appearances in all competitions from which he scored ten times. The following season was much the same, missing out on the first half but he did come back in January and made 33 appearances scoring a very impressive 22 goals.
This season could be his best yet, as he has maintained the momentum from last season but this time injury free Van Persie has already scored 19 goals in the Premier League. He is five goals clear of his nearest rivals and favourite to win this season’s Premier League Golden Boot. In addition, Van Persie almost became the first man to break Alan Shearer’s Premier League record of fifty goals in a calendar year but fell one short of his target and finished 2011 with 49 goals.
The Premier League, might not be the only Golden Boot the Dutchman will win this season and he will undoubtedly have eyes eyes firmly set on winning the Euro 2012 Golden Boot too, and he should stand a great chance with his country, Holland, rated as one of the favourites to win.
Van Persie scored six goals in nine games for Holland in 2011 and has scored a total of 25 goals in 61 international matches. He is currently 12/1 third favourite to win the Top Goalscorer award at Euro 2012, which on current form, cannot be ignored.
