Arsenal's new Dutch master

Is Robin van Persie the new Dennis Bergkamp? Opta investigate.

With Arsenal icon Dennis Bergkamp enjoying his final season with The Gunners, the need for an adequate replacement has become an increasingly pressing matter for Arsene Wenger.

However, despite apparently having a significant war-chest to spend on new players, it now looks as though Wenger may already have a tailor-made replacement for Bergkamp in the Iceman's Dutch compatriot Robin van Persie.

Van Persie's tenth goal for The Gunners in The Premiership and Champions League, a sweetly-struck left-foot effort against Sunderland at the weekend, moved the youngster, somewhat significantly, one past Bergkamp's tally since the start of the 2004/05 season.

Since arriving at Highbury, van Persie has registered an impressive strike-rate, finding the net every 157 minutes, a rate bettered only by Thierry Henry.

Van Persie has also registered a shooting accuracy rate of 62 percent, better than any of his fellow strikers, including Henry.

Prem & Euro 04/05 & 05-06	Van Persie	Henry	Bergkamp	Reyes
Appearances	43	47	44	50
Minutes On Pitch	1567	4139	2944	3527
Goal Attempts	 	 	 	 
Goals	10	38	9	11
Shots On Target	39	92	21	52
Shots Off Target	24	63	29	49
Mins per Goal	157	109	327	321
Shooting Accuracy	62%	59%	42%	51%
Chance Conversion	15.9%	25%	18%	11%
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 
 	 	 	 	 

Van Persie has made a point of learning as much as he can from Bergkamp and Wenger will be delighted to see that the lessons are starting to pay off for the gifted youngster.