Robin Van Persie Could Feature Against England Despite Injury Concerns

Robin van Persie could find himself at the centre of a club versus country tug of war, with the striker set to feature in Holland’s friendly with England at Wembley tonight.

Van Persie, who is believed to have a slight groin problem after complaining of pain, was declared able to play by the KNVB, Dutch Football Association, despite not undergoing a fitness test.

As reported by the Guardian, Kees Jansma, spokesperson for the KNVB said: “I think he is ok, he is ok. He is completely fit. Its absolutely not serious, so there is no problem at all.”

His comments are sure to frustrate Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who has made his feelings on players featuring in mid-season friendlies clear on a number of occasions. Wenger even recalled Van Persie ahead of Holland’s game with Germany last November for fear of injury.

Van Persie has found the net 33 times this season and his talismanic display at the weekend helped overcome a 0-2 deficit to beat bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 in the north London derby.

With Arsenal facing Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, Wenger will be hoping his star striker is fit. Arsenal are currently fourth in the Premier League and face a Liverpool team brimming with confidence following their Carling Cup Final triumph over Cardiff City.

Arsenal are hoping to consolidate fourth place, as they look for Champions League football next season, however, victory for Kenny Dalglish’s charges will see them just four points off of the gunners.

Robin van Persie could find himself at the centre of a club versus country tug of war, with the striker set to feature in Holland’s friendly with England at Wembley tonight.

Van Persie, who is believed to have a slight groin problem after complaining of pain, was declared able to play by the KNVB, Dutch Football Association, despite not undergoing a fitness test.

As reported by the Guardian, Kees Jansma, spokesperson for the KNVB said: “I think he is ok, he is ok. He is completely fit. Its absolutely not serious, so there is no problem at all.”

His comments are sure to frustrate Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger, who has made his feelings on players featuring in mid-season friendlies clear on a number of occasions. Wenger even recalled Van Persie ahead of Holland’s game with Germany last November for fear of injury.

Van Persie has found the net 33 times this season and his talismanic display at the weekend helped overcome a 0-2 deficit to beat bitter rivals Tottenham Hotspur 5-3 in the north London derby.

With Arsenal facing Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, Wenger will be hoping his star striker is fit. Arsenal are currently fourth in the Premier League and face a Liverpool team brimming with confidence following their Carling Cup Final triumph over Cardiff City.

Arsenal are hoping to consolidate fourth place, as they look for Champions League football next season, however, victory for Kenny Dalglish’s charges will see them just four points off of the gunners.

Rooney backs Fergie to give United the edge

Wayne Rooney is certain Sir Alex Ferguson will help swing the Premier League title race Manchester United’s way.

Another of those amazing last-gasp winners at Norwich yesterday kept United two points adrift of leaders Manchester City heading into the final 12 games of the campaign.

It is a period of the season Ferguson famously described as “squeaky bum time” due to the high levels of pressure that are placed on the competing teams.

Yet it is also the time when United’s long-serving boss is at his best.

“He is a great manager,” Rooney told

“He knows which players he can speak to and which players he can shout at, if he needs to.

“He knows how the players react and how to get the best out of them. That’s important especially in this day and age.

“His mentality for the game, his commitment and desire are obviously things that the players try and take on themselves.

“For me personally, he’s been brilliant. He is a great leader for our team.”

Rooney missed yesterday’s game with a throat infection that has also ruled him out of England’s midweek friendly with Holland.

Given United visit title rivals Tottenham next Sunday, his club would probably view the international absence as a good thing as they try to oust City from top spot and close in on their 20th championship success.

“We are only a couple of points behind and we have a lot of games to go,” he said.

“We are confident that we can push on now, and start being a bit more consistent towards the end of the season.”

And, from a personal perspective, Rooney wants to maintain his own level of contribution, having made light of his frequent appearances in midfield earlier this season to score 19 goals, only 15 adrift of his best ever tally in 2010.

“It’s been one of my best goal-scoring seasons,” he said.

“Hopefully I can kick on and score a lot more towards the end.”

Cech welcomes Chelsea break

Petr Cech admits he is happy to enter a ‘relaxed’ atmosphere with the Czech Republic squad after enduring ‘problems’ with Chelsea.

Andre Villas-Boas has come under increased pressure following his side’s poor performance in the Champions League and the FA Cup in recent weeks, while a faltering Premier League campaign has overshadowed the Portuguese’s reign at Stamford Bridge.

The Chelsea boss has also admitted to differences with the club’s senior players, and Cech admits he is welcoming the international break.

“When you go with the national team and then go back with the club, it’s two different things,” Cech said.

“If you have all the sort of problems in the club and the club is not doing well and you come to an atmosphere where everyone is relaxed because you have made your target by reaching the European Championship, then the atmosphere is different and you can enjoy it.”

“But you always separate the two teams because, whatever problems you have with the national team or with the club, it doesn’t really concern the team you are in.”

Arsenal’s Van Persie doubtful for England clash

Holland striker Robin van Persie is a doubt for Wednesday’s friendly against England with a groin injury, Oranje coach Bert van Marwijk has confirmed.

Arsenal‘s talisman Van Persie sat out the last 10 minutes of Holland’s hour-long open training session at Wembley on Tuesday after aggravating the problem, which he originally suffered in the Gunners’ 5-2 win over Tottenham on Sunday, according to the Mirror.

He was in sublime touch against Spurs scoring the equaliser when they 2-0 down with a magnificent left footed volley.

The Arsenal captain, who has been in scintillating form this year, appeared in discomfort towards the end of the training session and missed an eight-a-side practice match at England’s national stadium in north London.

The 28-year-old, who has scored 33 goals for club and country this term, is a doubt for Wembley, although Van Marwijk was optimistic the striker would feature.

Frank Lampard emotional after Chelsea fans show support

Lampard admitted for the first time on Saturday his relationship with Blues boss Villas-Boas had ‘not been ideal’, amid speculation of a falling-out between the pair.

Even before he made three separate pieces of history by scoring his 12th goal of the season in their much-needed 3-0 Premier League win over Bolton, his was the name on the lips of the Stamford Bridge crowd.

‘Super Frankie Lampard’, they sang about the man who repaid their adulation with the 150th league goal of his career and his 125th in the league for Chelsea, the latter taking him ahead of legendary striker Jimmy Greaves in the all-time Blues scoring charts.

The 33-year-old midfielder also became the first player to reach double figures in the Premier League for nine consecutive seasons.

‘I just want to play and the way the fans were with me was amazing,’ said Lampard. ‘It’s lump-in-the-throat stuff when they sing your name like that.

The fans have stuck with us brilliantly. It’s been a tough old season.’
Saturday’s match was the fourth this season in which Lampard was scored on his return from being benched by Villas-Boas and he added: ‘When I play I know I can contribute.’

The victory over Bolton was Chelsea’s first in six matches and Lampard demanded consistency in their push for the top four, adding: ‘It can’t be a false dawn. We need to carry on.’

Villas-Boas insists he wants Lampard to stay at the club, but added: ‘It does not depend on me. It depends on three parts – I want him, [he] wants to stay and the club wants him.’

Robin van Persie: I’m a true Gunner and I love Arsenal

Dutch newspaper De Telegraaf have some comforting words for Arsenal fans from Robin van Persie today. Fresh from their excellent win at the weekend, the Dutch striker has taken steps to calm fears that he’s on his way out of the Emirates.

“I sit there for eight years and I’m proud. At the end of the season I sit down with the trainer and the president. Then we make a cup of coffee all together. I am a true Gunner. I love this club and that’s no secret.”

Van Persie is keen to leave everything until the end of the season, when he’ll only have a year left on his contract. Though he may have the best intentions at heart, the delay has created many rumours and also stirred interest in other clubs who feel they may have a chance of signing him. He’s still determined to wait “We will soon talk about many things. I do quite often with the trainer anyway. Only later on is the president there.”

Robin van Persie is the Premier League’s top scorer with 23 goals for Arsenalalready this season.

Lampard – AVB relationship ‘less than ideal’

Frank Lampard has admitted that his relationship with Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas is ‘less than ideal’.

Whilst there has been much speculation that there are divisions in the Chelsea camp and that Andre Villas-Boas does not have the backing of senior players, something AVB himself has alluded to, it is rather unprecedented for a player to come out and confirm that there are fractions in his relationship with the manager.

Despite being a fans’ favourite and having regularly performed well for Chelsea, and having scored regularly over the seasons, Frank Lampard has had to deal with being a bit-part player since Villas-Boas’ arrival. This has not sat well with the midfielder, nor has it with other senior squad members who have begun to question the late Sir Bobby Robson’s protege.

Villas-Boas meanwhile has accepted Lampard’s grievances at not playing regularly, but he has intimated that he does not see this as an issue. AVB is keen for his players to be hungry to play and he shrugged off Lampard’s grievances by stating that yesterday Romeu and Obi Mikel were themselves disappointed to be overlooked.

Wenger salutes magical Walcott

Arsene Wenger praised Theo Walcott’s two-goal contribution to Arsenal’s 5-2 derby win over Tottenham, but admitted he considered substituting the winger to spare him more abuse from his own supporters.

Walcott came in for heavy criticism from the Arsenal fans at the Emirates Stadium as Spurs raced to an early two-goal lead.

But after the home side drew level, Tomas Rosicky and Walcott completed a comfortable win.

Wenger confessed he thought about making a change when it became apparent Walcott was shouldering the blame for a disappointing start but believes the player’s performance demonstrated his value to the team.

“The crowd was starting to get on his back, and you wonder if you do him a favour if you leave him on,” said Walcott.

“But I felt that he is a player who can be straight, go behind the defenders, and nobody else is like that.

“He is a very direct player, and you know that sometimes he can miss a first touch and still considering the balance of our team I felt it was important to keep him in the side.”

Walcott admitted he had endured a difficult first 45 minutes but was satisfied with his response.

“You always have to get on with the game. When things are not going too well, I can hold my hands up and say I didn’t have the greatest of first halves,” he said.

“But it just shows the character, not just me but the team. I was trying to forget about that and work hard in the second half and if you work hard hopefully good things will come and it happened for me, hopefully it will happen to everyone else now.”

In a reversal of roles, Robin Van Persie, the scorer of Arsenal’s second goal, set up Walcott for the team’s third.

And the Holland forward said: “If you speak about Theo, I think it’s funny he gets so many critics. He gave me loads of assists and I know and everyone knows he can score.

“He showed that in this game, he scored two goals and will score more. I said a couple of weeks ago he will score 20 goals and he will, trust me.”

Bacary Sagna set Arsenal on course for victory after Louis Saha and Emmanuel Adebayor had put Spurs in control.

And Wenger believes the race for third place is back on after Arsenal reduced the gap on Tottenham to seven points.

“It is still possible, if we keep our run going. Why not? But before the game it was ‘impossible’,” said Wenger.

“I always thought it was possible, but it would be down to consistency. Everybody on in the Premier League can lose points. They have a different schedule to us, but if we continue to play like that, then why not?”

Wenger revealed Belgium defender Thomas Vermaelen and Czech Republic forward Rosicky picked up knocks and would miss this week’s internationals.

Spurs manager Harry Redknapp admitted he had been surprised at the way his side collapsed and demanded an immediate response.

“We seemed to buckle after they scored, which isn’t like us. We don’t do that often. But they’ve got good players. They’re a good side but when you’re 2-0 up, you expect to win the game,” he said.

“It’s going to be tight, but we’re in a great position. We’re still seven points clear of Arsenal and Chelsea. If we can finish third, that’s a great season for us.”

And he added: “We’ve got to come back like we did earlier in the season. We need to bounce back and recover.

“But everyone’s going to various parts of the world to play internationals, There’s hardly anyone in all week. It’s a crazy build-up to massive games. It’s difficult, the schedule. We’ve got people going to Mexico. One to New Zealand.”

Lampard, AVB scrap threatens to derail Chelsea

The manner in which Frank Lampard walked over to applaud the fans afterChelsea’s 3-0 win over lowly Bolton on Saturday was almost like a dress rehearsal for a testimonial match somewhere in the future.

‘Mr Chelsea’ may have scored the goal to help save his manager’s job but then sensationally admitted after the game: My relationship with AVB is not ideal.

Media speculation has been rife this week that it would be Ashley Cole heading for the exit door at Stamford Bridge at the end of the season, but, it could well be Lampard.

In fact, news on Sunday morning was that Cole will definitely be staying at the Bridge.

According to an exclusive report in the Mirror (http://bit.ly/wmXtpZ), Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich has intervened to make it clear that Cole must stay.

The 31-year-old international  was back for yesterday’s 3-0 win over Bolton and Abramovich was at Stamford Bridge to watch the game and saw Frank Lampard score.

The England midfielder’s 150th league goal was followed by this comment: “I think you can probably see that it’s not been ideal (his relationship with AVB). There have been certain issues. Certain players, we don’t like not to play.

“I’m sure we’re all frustrated at the minute. Everyone who’s involved, especially people who have got Chelsea in their hearts, who have been here a long time and want to see us performing as we should do.

“It doesn’t mean I want to play every game and, if I sit on the bench, I want to see Chelsea win.

Lampard’s goal, after strikes from David Luiz and Didier Drogba, eased the pressure on AVB.

But the manager warned the midfielder could be back on the bench against West Brom on Saturday.

He said: “Lamps had his chance today and played fantastically well.”

But when asked if the England star was a shoo-in to face West Brom on Saturday, he added: “That is not the way it works.”