Wenger wrestles with Van Persie dilemma

Arsene Wenger is facing one of the toughest calls of his managerial career over whether to rest Robin van Persie for tomorrow’s game against Wolves – a move which could wreck the Arsenal striker’s bid to break Alan Shearer’s record for most Premier League goals in a calendar year.

Van Persie moved within two goals of Shearer’s six-year-old Premier League record last week when he slotted home a penalty against Aston Villa to take his tally for 2011 to 34 goals.

Arsenal face Wolves at home tomorrow before making the short trip to Loftus Road to face QPR on New Year’s Eve – two games in which Van Persie would be expected to add to his tally.

Wenger, however, has become acutely aware of Arsenal’s reliance upon the Dutchman’s talents and is also conscious of the fact that the injury troubles that have dogged the striker over the last couple of years could return if the is forced to play too many games.

Losing Gervinho and Marouane Chamakh for up to a month in January for the African Nations Cup will place an even heavier burden on Van Persie and Wenger admitted he faces an agonising call over whether to bench his star striker on Tuesday despite him being on the verge of breaking Shearer’s record.

“Can he start three games in seven days? We will see. It will be a big demand for him. I don’t know yet, we will assess the situation after every game,” Wenger said.

“You get his vibes, the medical vibes and you know the history with him. Then you make a decision.

“I rested him it in the Champions League because I thought we had enough security there and we could take a gamble.”

Wenger admits Van Persie is desperate to break Shearer’s record, but is confident that the prospect of writing his name in to the record books will not distract the former Feyenoord striker if he is selected against Wolves and QPR.

The Frenchman said: “I believe the great players know what is important. And what is important is that he is the leader of the team. He knows as well that what is important is to win the games. What is important on the pitch is to make the right decision for every situation you face. He does that very well.

“You do not have to make an obsession of it, just play naturally.

“It is strange because you score goals when you don’t think about it.”

Villas-Boas refuses to call in Alex

Chelsea boss Andre Villas-Boas has defended his refusal to “dial 911” for Alex as a matter of principle.

That is despite a potential injury crisis and Villas-Boas’ previous claims that defender Alex – and striker Nicolas Anelka – could yet earn a recall to his first-team squad.

If ever there was a time to bring Alex in from the cold, it is now, with Chelsea potentially down to just one fit centre-half for today’s west London derby with Fulham.

But Villas-Boas insisted he would rather play Jose Bosingwa, Paulo Ferreira or Oriol Romeu out of position than turn to a man he banished from his squad for submitting a transfer request.

“He’s not going to play,” Villas-Boas said.

“Because we have accepted a transfer request in anticipation of the market and we are not stupid people.

“We don’t push out people who submit transfer requests and put people apart to then dial 911 and ask for help.

“So, at the moment, we will stick to our principles and to our values.

“It was a decision we thought was good for the club.

“The request was accepted, so we have to let the market open and we have to continue to adapt ourselves if situations like this continue to arise.”

Asked if he now regretted acting so hastily with Alex, Villas-Boas said: “That was a decision that we felt sensible and competent at that time and we will stick to it.”

Villas-Boas reiterated why Alex and Shanghai Shenhua-bound Anelka were banished in the first place, with the decision also partly a response to Chelsea’s worst start to a season since Roman Abramovich bought the club.

He said: “We went on that run of results and we wanted everybody on the same tune regarding training and the same tune in terms of commitment, concentration and objectives – immediate club objectives.

“So it was not a thing to penalise anybody. It was just to fine tune the environment that we have.”

The Chelsea boss was also coy over Alex’s desire to leave, something that would appear to stem from his slide down the pecking order to third choice as John Terry’s partner.

“Everybody has ambitions,” Villas-Boas said.

“We are speaking about an extremely professional player and personality and I think he had his personal ambitions and that’s why we accepted.”