Wenger hails Van Persie

Arsene Wenger praised two-goal hero Robin van Persie after Arsenal defeated Sunderland 2-1 on Saturday.

Captain Van Persie led by example, opening the scoring just 29 seconds into the English Premier League match at the Emirates Stadium.

Arsenal old boy Sebastian Larsson drew Sunderland level with a stunning free kick on 31 minutes.

But Van Persie was on hand again with a free kick of his own, securing all three points seven minutes from time.

“Many people question his leadership qualities but I believe he is completely committed for the cause on a daily basis,” Wenger said.

“What’s even more important is that he does the job on the football pitch.”

Wenger praised the determination of visitors Sunderland, who did enough to at least warrant a point for their efforts.

“I have seen a few games over the weekend and I must say that of all the teams away from home Sunderland were 100 per cent committed, played with six midfielders and four defenders and fought for every inch on the pitch,” Wenger said.

“I did not see many teams doing that yesterday so I believe that they deserve a lot of credit. They made life difficult for us.”

Despite leaving north London empty-handed, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce was not totally deflated by the loss.

“We’ve showed a huge amount of resilience today to get back into it,” Bruce said.

“It was an awful start to come here and be one down after 35 seconds gives them a huge big lift.”

“For 20 minutes we had to stick in there, all credit to them. Seb (Larsson) got us back into the game with a wonder goal.”

Bruce is confident his side can recover from their form slump, but concedes they must improve quickly and cut out mistakes.

“We’ve played badly only once in the eight games, that was against Norwich which we were disappointed with,” he said.

“We’ve had a disappointing start and you know what this is. We were two nil down last week after three minutes and got back into it. It’s been a frustration for us.”

“We have to admit that it’s been a disappointing start but we must make sure we stick at it and we’ll improve.”