Wenger full of praise for RVP's red-hot October
Published 23:00 04/11/11 By John Cross
Robin van Persie has been voted Barclays Premier League Player of the Month for October.
The flying Dutchman, set to be recalled to Arsenal's starting line-up for Saturday's home game against West Brom, is in the form of his life, after extending his scoring record to 28 goals in 27 Premier League games in 2011.
That has helped make Van Persie the stand-out player in the league, his top form inspiring an Arsenal revival that has seen them climb up the league after a poor start.
Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger paid a glowing tribute to his captain and says there are some similarities between Van Persie and Gunners legend Thierry Henry.
Wenger said: "He has totally matured. He is much more focused on efficiency. You have to give him credit as he is a football lover.
"He came here as a winger and when you look at the number of goals, you can only say fantastic.
"I bought Thierry because he has power and pace, Robin van Persie more because I wanted to add a technical player to add in front of [Cesc] Fabregas and it worked. He has scored straight away."
Wenger says Van Persie is back to full fitness after he was kept on the bench for an hour in the midweek Champions League draw with Marseille to give him a rest.
Wenger added: "He was a bit on the edge after the Chelsea game [last Saturday] but he was not injured. He was just very tired.
"On Tuesday, the question was do I play him an hour and take him off or put him on in the last half an hour if needed. I chose the second option.
"The negative is that we didn't win, the positive is that he didn't get injured."
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