So he has done, after signing for Arsenal back in 2004, Robin Van Persie’s brace against Bolton at the weekend helped him earn his 99th and 100th goals for the club. Whilst the striker has spent a lot of his tenure in North London on the injury table, Van Persie’s goals over the last few years have been like gold dust to the Gunners especially last year. And being Dutch means that there have been some crackers along the way.
It would be fair to say Javier Hernandez has not had the best start to the new season. The Mexican despite scoring a goal in last season’s Community Shield made his first mark on the Premier League in Manchester United’s away fixture at Stoke last season where he scored twice in a 2-1 away win.
We are currently at a time in football where our national game has never been so illustrious. Gone from the game are the characters that drew us to the game in the first place and replaced by – not all but many – prima donors.
There’s growing evidence that Premier League teams are starting to introduce their youth players. Manchester United started with Danny Welbeck and Tom Cleverley, Arsenal had Emmanuel Frimpong, Aston Villa called-up Barry Bannan and Liverpool still play Jamie Carragher.
The only way teams can stop Gareth Bale is to kick him out of the game, is the opinion of Tottenham midfielder Rafael Van der Vaart.
Arsenal and Brighton and Hove Albion are more similar than I previously thought. Arsenal, renowned for being the best passing team in the land, are as pleasing on the eye (on their day) as Barcelona who are without a doubt one of the best teams of modern times.
So Manchester City continue their revisiting of teams they have played in the Cup Final throughout their history.
At last, the prayers were answered before the close of the transfer window this summer, as Spurs finally bought in a striker of exceptional quality. Emmanuel Adebayor arrived on a season long-loan towards the end of August and the acquisition of the Togolese forward couldn’t have come soon enough.