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From the Terraces
Picture of Billy Pearson

Should the Arsenal boss take a risk on star's fitness?

Posted by: Billy Pearson, Tue 13th May 2008
Tagged: Arsenal

Football FanCast columnist Billy Pearson is a great fan of Robin Van Persie but feels that Arsene Wenger is taking a huge risk in banking on his fitness for next season.

If there is one player that constantly frustrates me as an Arsenal fan then it has to be Robin Van Persie. It is not because of his abilities on a football field but the fact we don't see enough of him on it. When he does eventually put the No.11 jersey on his back he looks tremendous, ‘World Class' at times and I believe a fit Van Persie would have won us the title this year.
Arsene Wenger came out in the Times this morning and claimed that he felt for the Dutch striker and because of his abilities is keen to keep him:


"Robin is unfortunate with injuries at the moment, but in my opinion it is nothing more than that," the Arsenal manager said. "It is true that he has missed many, many games this year. We lost him and Eduardo at the same period and it was really bad luck because Eduardo had come on well too.

"You always hope that next season Robin will have an injury-free season. He has so much talent so I am very keen to keep him, I trust him and I hope that he will get rid of his injuries. For me, Robin van Persie is world class."


So what do we do about Robin Van Persie? Why I wholeheartedly agree with Wenger's sentiments, is the Frenchman not taking a huge risk in hoping he will remain fit next season? Injuries are part and parcel of football but as Spurs found with the likes of Anderton and now King, sometimes they are such a regular occurrence that sometimes you have to say enough is enough and just cut the cloth and move on.

I'm not sure what other Arsenal fans feel at this moment but I believe our strike force is one of our weak spots. So many times in games we fail to kill teams off and we have dropped so many points as a result. Sure you can point to Adebayor's 30 goals but in truth, he missed a sack load of chances and the likes of Bendtner, Walcott haven't looked able to step up. I appreciate we badly missed Eduardo but given the extent of his injury, there are certainly no guarantees he will be back to the same level.

So should a striker be a number one priority in the summer? Is Wenger taking a calculated gamble on Van Persie staying fit? Who would you bring in?

Poll:

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Felix
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I would not put anything on
I would not put anything on RVP staying fit for next season so a striker has to be priority. You are right that we have suffered for goals this season and with the exception of Ade we would have struggled.

N5
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We are use to calculated
We are use to calculated mistakes by Wenger, just probably hinting that he has no intention of bringing in a striker.

Catlin
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How many games has Persie
How many games has Persie actually played for us over the years, not many at all. We need to bring in David Villa, the best striker in Europe at this moment.

Don
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We need consistency upfront
We need consistency upfront and half the problem with Adebayor and his huge ego is that he has no competition upfront. A new forward must be brought in.

Scully
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Regardless of RVP's
Regardless of RVP's availability, we should purchase another striker and perhaps use RVP when he is fit. I would also like to see an experienced centre back and top class goal keeper added to the squad. Not so sure about Kolo playing the defensive midfield spot, but would welcome lorik Cana, yes he is a psycho but would toughen up our team.

John , McIntosh
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I would like to see a
I would like to see a defender someone of proper class that will challenge Gallas and Toure for a spot on the pitch. Song to me has looked impressive at the back and much more of a player than senderos (arsenal will never win anything if he played a whole season at the back!). Also we need wingers and a replacement for flamini , plus a striker , Gomez anyone ? Van the man is never gonna stay fit for a whole season as sad as it is to say ! Come on Wenger , spend and challenge next season !

ro
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Wenger won't buy a striker.
Wenger won't buy a striker. We don't need one, well Wenger doesn't seem to think so because we have a lot of strikers i.e. Ade, Van Persie, Eduardo, Walcott and Bendther. He believes Walcott will be a first team player and by the looks of it, it could well be Ade & Walcott upfront. What we need is a centre back to replace Gallas and perhaps a left-mid although we do have Carlos Vela coming back who can play there and we have Traore who sees himself as a left-mid anyway. I think Diaby should now be played in Flamini's position because Wenger bought him for his Vieira likeness so why play him on the left out of position. Get him in the middle where he is best. We don't necessarily need that many players but I wouldn't complain if we did sign: Kompany, Yaya Toure, David Villa and Nasri or Ben Arfa. That would bolster our squad power which is probably what we need.

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