Does Robin van Persie owe it to Arsenal to sign a new contract?

Jordan Florit evaluates whether Robin Van Persie owes it to Arsenal to pledge his future to the north London club.

His scoring form has been nothing short of sensational, banging in 25 Premier League goals in 27 appearances; his ability to assist too, playing as part of an attacking triumvirate based on fluidity, raw pace and direct running, has seen him have more involvement with goals than any other player in the Premier League this campaign; and, above all, he’s remained fit all season and has thus played at least 80 minutes in every single Premier League game this season bar one – and then, with 25 minutes left, he was brought on to take a game heading for a 1-1 draw with Stoke, to a 3-1 victory netting twice.

It is his richest vein of form since joining Arsenal in 2004 and he has already beaten his previous season’s best return of 22 goals by ten. In the past twelve months, van Persie has been quite frankly unstoppable in front of goal. Firstly, he kicked off 2011, continuing to do so all the way to the end of the season, by breaking the record for the number of consecutive games in which a player has scored a goal away from home, by collecting one on the road for nine successive games. He then carried his exploits in front of goal into the next Premier League campaign and by the New Year, RVP had joined an elite group of players that had scored over 100 career goals for The Gunners – he currently stands as their seventh highest goal scorer of all time – before becoming the fifth player since the Premier League was formed in 1992 to score at least 30 goals in a calendar year.

Yet this isn’t a player who is simply a late bloomer, hitting his finest form at the age of 28. Year upon year, since occupying the role as the main striker having seen Thierry Henry depart for Barcelona, van Persie has improved his potency up front. At the end of the 2007/08 season, the first without Henry, van Persie had a goal to game ratio of 0.39 goals per game (gpg). During the current season, the Dutchman’s ratio has increased to 0.86 gpg. Not only has his potency more than doubled at an increase of 120.51% over the five seasons, but it has increased year upon year at an average of 22.55%.

This is a man who has constantly been improving, but doing so in the face of extreme adversity. The extreme adversity? Injury. Just how extreme? So extreme that since joining Arsenal he has only been able to start 58% of their games.

This is a man who has been held back by injury, but not stopped by it.

Many say that Arsenal are a one man team and looking at the statistics – he’s scored 45% of their goals this season, the highest percentage of team goals scored by any single player in the Premier League – they have a case. Furthermore, the aforementioned example of van Persie’s only non-start still requiring him to come off the bench to win the game for The Gunners only strengthens their claim.

However, this season is Robin van Persie’s first at Arsenal without any significant absence enforced through injury since the 2008/09 season and even that was an anomaly, with the Dutchman missing large chunks of seasons at a time dating back to 2005/06. Gunners fans have always known the quality they had in Robin van Persie – the past 12 months has been his uninterrupted time to show it to the world. He ceased the opportunity, and the superlatives, as well as the speculation, followed.

His contract is up at the end of next season, having signed an extension back in July 2009 at which point, he was described as “a big part of Arsenal’s future” and Arsene Wenger himself stated that he “has the potential to become a true Arsenal great.” Undoubtedly, both statements have been realised: he stands, three years later, as their most important player and provider of goals and has cemented himself in the top ten Arsenal goal-scorers of all-time.

He may well have earned the title of “a true Arsenal great,” but can he do more to secure legendary status at The Emirates?

When he signed the deal, the number 10 announced his love for the club and it was a love tinged with the humility so often used synonymously with another great – Lionel Messi: “My heart is with Arsenal and I just can’t picture myself in a different shirt. I just can’t see it now because I love this Club so much.”

Three years have nearly passed and the club he adores so much hasn’t had quite the “bright future” van Persie stated that he wanted to “be a part of.” You could forgive him for wanting to move on now. He’s in his peak flow, he’s 28 and the clubs that consistently find themselves among the silverware are sniffing about like grotty pensioners on a morning bus in January.

However, does van Persie owe it to Arsenal to sign a further contract extension?

Over his Arsenal career, the striker has started in just 58% of Premier League games because of injury and since he joined The Gunners from Dutch side Feyenoord, Arsenal have won just one trophy – The F.A. Cup in the forward’s first season. Imagine if Robin van Persie hadn’t endured such an injury plagued career at the club? How much more success could’ve Arsenal achieved?

Lukas Podolski will join Arsenal in the summer at which point his new strike partner will have just one year left on his contract. If he stalls his decision over signing an extension and a club come in for him, he could leave for nothing. If he signs prematurely and another wave of Arsenal transfers fails to deliver, silverware may continue to elude him as he approaches his 30^th birthday next summer.

Does Robin van Persie owe it to Arsenal to sign a new contract or will much the same happen with Podolski taking the van Persie role and the Dutchman leaving akin to Henry? The only difference is, the Frenchman left with a vast trophy collection – how much does van Persie want the same?

This article was written by Jordan Florit. For more of Jordan’s work, take a look at his website: www.maycauseoffence.com/. Jordan is also on Twitter: @JordanFlorit

Arsenal and Chelsea’s fight for fourth will be settled in defence

Jordon Florit explains why Chelsea and Arsenal's race for the top four will be determined by who can stay the most solid in defence.

If it wasn’t for Andre Villas-Boas’ failure to make an immediate impact at Chelsea, something that he undoubtedly intended to do given his insistence that “there is no calling this a year of transition,” earlier in the season, despite evidently being in a year of transition - something that has become painstakingly obvious to the rest of the world who hadn’t already realised it was underway, thanks to Villas-Boas all but admitting the transition by stating, “we have a three-year project to change, not only the team but, the culture and structure of the club” - Arsenal’s season would be dead right now. Luckily for Arsene Wenger, they still have the much-coveted “trophy” of fourth place to cling on to.

Meanwhile, Arsenal’s season has taken a rather different path to Chelsea’s, yet both teams are still going into the last thirteen games on level points (43) with the same goal difference (13). The only thing that currently keeps Arsenal in the top four over Chelsea, a position Arsene Wenger has never finished below during his Arsenal career, is the goal machine Robin van Persie, rather than a 3 Premier League goals Fernando Torres.

Chelsea’s defence has been marginally tighter than Arsenal’s (I emphasize marginally) and whilst both teams have suffered defensively this season, with Chelsea’s Mourinho-instilled focus on strong foundations at the back finally all but fading out as Villas-Boas adopts a risk-taking and attacking defence, and Arsenal’s back four providing all but stability or consistency, with a total of eleven plays being used across the back, if The Blues were going to pip The Gunners to fourth place, it will be won at the back.

However, news that John Terry - who was set to be risked by the Portuguese boss against Napoli, (a clear indication of just how important Terry is to Chelsea, despite not being quite the player he was a few years ago) - is out for two months. This could scupper Villas-Boas’ chances of Chelsea finishing in a Champions League spot and mount further pressure on the 34-year old.

John Terry suffered a blow to his knee in a collision with the goalpost in Chelsea’s F.A. Cup victory over Championship Portsmouth on January 7^th: an injury he played through for two more games. Since then, The Blues have failed to keep a clean sheet and have slipped from 4^th place and just four points off of 3^rd and six clear of seventh, to 5^th place, where 3^rd seems unreachable at 10 points away and 7^thplaced Liverpool have closed the gap by two.

The reading doesn’t get much better for Chelsea fans as not only are Chelsea without a clean sheet in a Terry-less side so far this season, but in addition, last season Chelsea kept just one of their 15 clean sheets without Terry, in a season in which the centre-back missed 5 games. Last campaign, Chelsea kept a clean sheet with Terry 42% of the time and without him, just 20% of the time. This season, Chelsea have kept a clean sheet 27% of the time in which John Terry has played and without him, it currently stands at 0%.

Chelsea’s defensive woes are further encapsulated by the fact that they’ve only won two of their last ten games, one of them against relegation zone dwellers Wolves. And whilst they may’ve only lost two, both were bottom half at the time and their six draws have been score draws five times, with their only goalless draw coming against Norwich, a game fans would’ve hoped Chelsea would’ve won. Their 3-0 lead against Manchester United could’ve galvanised Chelsea’s season, but even that was carelessly thrown away, to add to their other two score draws that saw Chelsea lead.

Chelsea fans may take some hope from January signing Gary Cahill: however, the centre-back is stepping into the shoes of a Chelsea hero in an extremely frail Chelsea team that, simply put, is lacking leadership, belief and confidence. He’s stepped out of the fire, in the form of Bolton, who have only kept one clean sheet since the opening fixture, and into the fire at Chelsea.

So, can Chelsea turn to last season’s Player of the Year Petr Cech for help? Seemingly not. This season, you could make a claim for Petr Cech being the worst shot stopper in the league, although much blame should be put down to a defence lacking in organisation, something further hindered with the absence of Terry: this season, Cech’s saves-to-shots ratio in the Premier League is 65% and therefore the worst in the league.

Now turn to Arsenal and in a season in which the Premier League’s top four has been more hotly-contested than Miss Universe and saw The Gunners seventeenth after an embarrassing 8-2 defeat at the hands of a ruthless Manchester United, their current position of fourth place is rather admirable. Yet, the past ten days has seen The Gunners lose everything they were fighting for but fourth place, crashing out of the F.A. Cup in a 2-0 defeat to Sunderland and their Champions League adventure all but over after a 4-0 first leg loss at the San Siro.

Yet, news that Laurent Koscielny should be back for Arsenal’s next Premier League game – the North London derby with Tottenham – has given a cloudy Arsenal week a much-welcomed silver lining. With Bacary Sagna firing on all cylinders again and Thomas Vermaelen at the heart of defence with the Frenchman, Arsenal fans have the right to celebrate.

The ever-changing back line, eluded to in the opening of this article, has finally mustered up some strength and stability: a blend of leadership, provided by Vermaelen, experience, courtesy of Sagna and ability, supplied in heaps from the much-improved Koscileny, may well prove to secure fourth place in a season where defence has been far from Arsenal’s strong point.

It would be careless to rule out Newcastle or Liverpool sneaking in and snatching the last Champions League spot, especially with the momentum Liverpool are gathering and the focus Alan Pardew has on the league campaign: but, ultimately, if Arsenal or Chelsea do indeed finish fourth, the fight will be settled in defence.

This article was written by Jordan Florit. For more of Jordan’s work, take a look at his website: www.maycauseoffence.com/. Jordan is also on Twitter: @JordanFlorit

The Three factors ensuring Manchester United will fight for the title

In his debut article for The Football Front, Jordon Florit considers why Man United’s result at Chelsea proves the Red Devils will fight Man City to the death for the Premier League title.

You wouldn’t have put money on it: or maybe, if you’re my cousin, you would have placed a £2.00 bet, with odds of 50/1, on a 3-3 draw. The final score was hardly ideal for either side: however, Manchester United haven’t cracked Chelsea at Stamford Bridge for the past ten years and when Chelsea went three goals to the good with forty minutes left to play, to take a solitary point seemed unthinkable. Yet it still happened.

It was the first time in Chelsea’s Premier League history that they’d let a three goal lead slip, exactly a year to the day after Arsenal had let a four goal lead slip to this season’s surprise package Newcastle United. Yet, in an unexpected sort of way, the result wasn’t as surprising as one may’ve though. This season, Premier League fixtures between last season’s top four have reaped an average of 5.25 goals per game.

There are three factors which are at play to ensure that Manchester United will push Manchester City all the way in the fight for the title.

1.) Persistence and Determination

Ultimately, what Rio Ferdinand described as a “Man Utd never say die attitude”, is what was needed to compete in a hotly contested duel in which The Red Devils eventually came out as the dominant side in a game which had no winner.

Dominating possession and converting their chances was the gilded difference between a Manchester United side that looked dead as the third goal was headed in by David Luiz, and a Chelsea side that, on paper, looked weak as they were missing Didier Drogba, Frank Lampard, John Terry and Ashley Cole for the first time in 4 years.

For Sir Alex Ferguson, it was a game that “epitomises what English football’s about,” and it went psychologically proved that, despite failing to win, Manchester United will fight City all the way for the Premier League title.

At three goals down, with debatably two own goals scored – although the second was accredited to David Luiz. And with Chelsea’s fans providing another unwanted sub-story to the game, with a chorus of boos akin to the treatment Patrice Evra received at Anfield, United’s season was near the potential point of no return.

If, like the form book would’ve led one to believe, and Chelsea had gone on to win the game, it would’ve been Manchester United’s third loss to a top seven side, in all competitions, in 2012 alone. Furthermore, with Manchester City convincingly beating Fulham 3-0 yesterday, the gap between the top two would’ve remained at three points.

Some even were expecting Chelsea to repeat Man City’s 6-1 humiliation of Man United.

2.) David de Gea

“When you make a mistake at United, it is highlighted and can be exaggerated a little bit.” Those are the words of Sir Alex Ferguson on the criticism received by his Spanish goalkeeper David de Gea prior to the game and at three down. The hate brigade was well and truly in full swing. However, in palming shots away and punching balls out of the box, despite the scoreline, the Spanish ‘keeper was proving his critics wrong.

For many, and wrongly so, De Gea is considered to be the chink in United’s armour and, in the extremist’s view, including Piers Morgan, who believe David De Gea is the worst goalkeeper in the Premier League. But the statistics would beg to differ and in the aftermath of the game, the Spaniard’s saves-to-shots ratio was 77%. Which is the fourth best in the league, whereas Petr Cech’s stood at 65%, pitting him as the worst in the league. Whilst I don’t believe either are anywhere near the worst in the league, De Gea outshone Petr Cech with his emphatic save to stop a tremendous effort from fellow countryman Juan Mata.3.) The blend of experience and youth

Although the game was tainted by the continuous drone of boos for Rio Ferdinand, something Andre Villas-Boas seemed to palm off as a “normal situation in the Premier League,” which would confirm Ollie Holt’s views of a “resurgence of racist attitudes in the English game,” it did prove there is still life in one old dog in particular.

Thirty-eight year old Ryan Giggs was at the heart of everything creative for Manchester United, producing six goal-scoring opportunities for the visiting side. In fact, he created more chances than any other player on the pitch with Mata and Malouda coming closest with four each. Paul Scholes, 37, came on with the deficit still at two and with the two most experienced players on the pitch making up half of United’s midfield four; a comeback was mounted.

The value of experience, which was absent in the Chelsea side with the aforementioned four all missing. But for Man United the experience of Ryan Giggs, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes their experience continued to shine through. Carrick, 30, pulled the strings in midfield, coming in as United’s top passer with 76 passes, 23 more than Chelsea’s highest passer Raul Meireles, and Rio Ferdinand, 33, was the most accurate distributor on the pitch with an 89% pass completion rate.

With experience bossing the midfield, ably assisted by the unfazed Rio Ferdinand, it was left to the youth upfront to convert Manchester United’s chances. With a 69% success rate of shots to shots on target and a 33% goal ratio from shots on target, both better than Chelsea’s return, Danny Welbeck, Wayne Rooney and Javier Hernandez ensured Manchester United could fight back from a steep deficit to earn a point. The former earned the penalty that saw Rooney score and the lattermost completed the comeback, having seen Rooney score the second. It was typical of Hernandez to score the equaliser. 10 of his 21 Premier League goals have come in the last ten minutes and 11 of them coming from within the six-yard box.


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Chelsea have now drawn their last three games, leaving them sitting in 4th. Had Chelsea won all their last three games, they’d currently be level with Tottenham.

A Premier League title now looks out of the question for Andre Villas-Boas’s Chelsea.
However, one positive from a game which will definitely go down as two points lost, was David Luiz. Today’s performance saw him win 100% of his aerial battles and 87.5% of his ground battles, whilst winning every challenge he made. Although he was debatably at fault for Manchester United’s equaliser, he’s becoming more disciplined as the season progresses and AVB can only hope for a stronger defensive display from next season’s Chelsea than the one he has witnessed this season. Cahill will go some way to ensuring that.

This article was written by Jordan Florit. For more of Jordan’s work, take a look at his website: www.maycauseoffence.com/. Jordan is also on Twitter: @JordanFlorit