Robin van Persie does NOT feel under pressure to fill Thierry HenryÂ’s goal-scoring boots this season.
The Frenchman has been the spearhead of the Arsenal attack for the past eight seasons and his departure to Barcelona over the summer means extra responsibility on those remaining.
Despite missing the second half of last season, Van Persie was still Arsenal’s top scorer with 13 and showed his return to form on Sunday with a superb late winner against Inter to lift the Emirates Cup. Although he is the most experienced of Arsène Wenger’s striking quartet for the coming campaign, he does not accept the onus is solely on him.
“No, I don't feel the pressure at all,” he said.
“It's not my aim to be the top scorer. My aim is to play good football with this team. I think we showed that against Inter.
“A lot of players are saying ‘oh, I have to be the top scorer’. But for me the first thing is to play football. Of course there are lots of responsibilities because you are playing in front of 60,000 people.
“You play to win things, yes. But I play football because I like it. I will destroy that feeling if I say to myself I have to score at least 20 goals or 15 goals. Things have to come out of nothing and this is what happened against Inter. I wasn't expecting that goal. It just came out of nothing.”
Before this weekend, Van Persie admitted to some nerves about returning to Emirates Stadium for the first time since breaking his foot in the act of scoring the equaliser against Manchester United in January.
“I’d been out for six months,” said the 23-year-old. “That is way too long. I was just so happy that I'm back.
“I was in good shape, I was playing alright and then, 'bang', out of nothing you are back in Holland having treatment every day. It was quite hard.
“But I'm happy to be playing and scoring for the fans once again. I was really missing that in the last six months.”