Van Persie knows importance of Chelsea win

Arsenal captain and hat-trick hero Robin van Persie has hailed his side’s win over London rivals Chelsea as a huge result.

The Gunners trailed 2-1 at half-time of the English Premier League clash, until goals from Theo Walcott, Andre Santos and a Van Persie treble saw them run out 5-3 winners at Stamford Bridge.

After the game, Van Persie told Sky Sports: “You can see how happy we are at the end because we fought hard for this game. Every single one of us showed character and it’s a big, big win for us today.”

The Dutchman put the Gunners ahead 4-3 in the 85th minute after a John Terry slip left him one-on-one with Petr Cech.

“I was quite surprised because it was just an easy backpass, I only saw it late in the action that he actually slipped because I was closing him down,” he said.

“I suddenly realised in a couple of hundredths of a second that I was one-on-one with Cech and a couple of things came to mind but I did the easiest part and just passed him to slide it in.”

Van Persie’s team-mate Aaron Ramsey was at the heart of an impressive performance from the Gunners’ midfield, and he said the three points were just what his side deserved.

“It was a really good game for us to play in,” the Wales captain said.

“We showed great character coming back from being behind so I think it was a great game for us and the fans as well.”

“I think we deserved to win in the end, we created a lot of opportunities and took a lot of them.”