Wenger salutes ´world-class´ Van Persie

Arsene Wenger picked out striker Robin Van Persie for high praise following Arsenal’s 3-0 win over West Brom in the English Premier League.

Netherlands international Van Persie has been in fine form so far this season, and netted again in his team’s comfortable victory at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

Injuries have often curtailed Van Persie’s impact at crucial moments during his Arsenal career.

But when fit and firing, Wenger believes there are few players better equipped to lead the line.

“At the moment, it’s difficult to stop (Van Persie),” Wenger said.

“And he was not only a goal-scorer but a provider today, that’s what I like with the strikers.”

“The thing you know is he’s world class. When I was a kid, they always had a ranking, national class, international class, world class. And world class were only always five or 10 players, and I would put him into that calibre.”

“There is some quality there. And of course, (Lionel) Messi will win (awards) for best player in the world and rightly so because he has won everything.”

“But let’s not put too much pressure on Robin, and let him enjoy a full season and then we can make a better assessment at the end of the season.”

Arsenal were in charge throughout against West Brom, and Wenger was more than satisfied with his team’s accomplished display.

“Overall it was a controlled performance and we had complete domination of the game,” he said.

“We are getting stronger and overall it’s a positive afternoon. We scored five goals last week – today we scored three and didn’t concede so it’s a positive afternoon.”

“I was always positive with the team because one month ago we were of course in a very bad situation, but you felt there was the desire to do well and now that it is better, it’s still there.”

“This team wants to improve, to work hard, and wants to get better and better, and that is the most satisfying thing today.”

West Brom manager Roy Hodgson believes his players deserve credit for their work-rate in the match, despite being thoroughly outclassed by the home side.

“The one thing I think we did do today was put in one hell of a shift and I thought we had to because we were up against a very good Arsenal team in form, who were rampant,” he said.