Van Persie praises Vermaelen

Van Persie: Praise for team-mate

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Arsenal forward Robin van Persie has admitted he is happy to be playing for the same team as Thomas Vermaelen.

Van Persie was angered by Vermaelen's no-nonsense defending during the pre-season Ajax Tournament two years ago but has enjoyed playing alongside the Belgian since his move to Emirates Stadium over the summer.

Vermaelen has settled into English football quickly and continued his goalscoring form with a brace against Wigan on Saturday.

Recalling his spat with Vermaelen, Van Persie said: "He is hard and played very strong on me physically and I was a little bit upset about that. So I told him in nice words!

"Now I'm happy he is on my side. In training everyone mixes up so I play against him. He is tough and it's good because I am training against proper defenders."

Vermaelen showed with his two goals against Wigan that he is a threat in the air and from open play, and Van Persie believes it has a lot to do with being trained at Ajax.

Technical

"The first one showed he is very, very strong from corners and free-kicks and that is very important for us," said the Dutch striker.

"Even if we play badly we can always score from set-pieces.

"I would have been proud of his second goal.

"He is raised in Holland. I am not saying every Dutch player is good technically but when you are raised in Holland - especially at Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV - you are brought up getting the ball, moving it first touch, move again, pass, move.

"He was at Ajax since 15 so it is in his system for a long, long time."

No negativity

Van Persie insists there is a positive atmosphere surrounding the Arsenal camp after recent games were overshadowed by other stories including the Eduardo diving controversy and Emmanuel Adebayor's behaviour against his former club.

"It is cleared," Van Persie insisted. "I'm at the training ground every single day and I don't feel any sort of negativity at all.

"Everyone is happy, everyone is focused, everyone works very hard. Of course we were disappointed with the two losses in the league but besides that there are no big worries."