Van Persie: I'm glad Vermaelen is on my side!

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
19 Sep	3:00 PM	P	Wigan Athletic (H)	4	0	Win

Striker Robin van Persie has praised fellow team mate Thomas Vermaelen (dubbed the Verminator by Arsenal fans) and admitted that he was happy the Belgian international was playing in the same side!

van Persie first clashed with Vermaelen in the Ajax Tournament a couple of years ago when our £10 million signing was still playing for Ajax. The pair got into some nasty personal battles and van Persie had a few choice words with his then future team mate.

Vermaelen scored two goals over the weekend against Wigan, and is our top scorer so far this season. His first goal was a powerful header from a corner, whilst his second was a tasty long distance strike hit first time.

van Persie said: "He is hard and played very strong on me physically and I was a little bit upset about that. So I told him in nice words!

"Now I'm happy he is on my side. In training everyone mixes up so I play against him. He is tough and it's good because I am training against proper defenders.

"The first goal showed he is very, very strong from corners and free-kicks and that is very important for us. Even if we play badly we can always score from set-pieces.

"I would have been proud of his second goal.

"He is raised in Holland. I am not saying every Dutch player is good technically but when you are raised in Holland - especially at Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV - you are brought up getting the ball, moving it first touch, move again, pass, move.

"He was at Ajax since 15 so it is in his system for a long, long time."

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