Arsenal News 24/7Writer: Rocky7 
Date:Tuesday April 13 2010
Time: 2:40PM
UK time is: 16:15:59
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van Persie In The Squad To Face Spurs
The rumour mill had been working over time in the past couple of days with speculation that long term absentee, Robin van Persie would once again don an Arsenal shirt in the crucial North London Derby on Wednesday night.
Well for once it appears the rumour mill was right on the money.
In his traditional pre-match press conference Arsenal gaffer Arsene Wenger confirmed he will be in the squad.
'He will feature, he is in the squad for tomorrow's game,'
'It's a bit premature [to say whether RvP will start the match] maybe so I will see, but he's in the squad, I haven't picked the team yet.'
'When I pick a player it means that he is fit and sharp and he has worked very hard. Of course he lacks a bit of match practice but physically he is ready, he is fit. There's always a gamble, I don't want to deny that, there's always a gamble in such kind of decisions. But in his case we have been a bit more cautious because he has had a long time of preparation.'
'He is a very important player at this club and he is important for the confidence of our offensive power and he is a player who can contribute as well. I am very happy to have him back. The sadness was that we lost him very early in the season.'
I wouldn't expect miracles from van Persie in his first match back, indeed I think we'll only see him in either an emergency (god forbid) or for 15-20 minutes if we're very comfortable.
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Your Comments
"When I pick a player, it means he is fit and sharp.2 Mr. Wenger, how can you honestly say that with a straight face???
Little Dutch
Oh great joy. Apparently we're gonna wheel King onto the pitch aswell
HuddersfieldYiddo
Lol HY - It's going to be like watching two teams from the old folks home going at it.
Rocky7
RVP will be sporting the new all weather astro crutch designed by Adidas. I hear you can rack up quite some speed in a wheelchair HY, perhaps get a ramp and let ledley fly down it and deliver some killer delap style throw ins?
iceman10
Can't really see us being 'very comfortable' at any stage tomorrow night LD. I'm not sure it's a great idea to throw someone into the frenzy of the derby game after such a long time out. Would rather we kept him for the relative peace and quiet of the Wigan game.
Cockney Rich
Just like last season when eddie made a comeback on the bench and was not used. I'm more interested In finding out if Song is fit.
Steve Bould Flick On
Something seriously has to be done about the volume of games being played at the highest level. We're getting to the point now where great players are loosing five or six years of their careers to injuries because of the constant strain on the body. I agree with HY-this game is massive, but could have been even bigger.
Tony Rocky Horror
Just our luck! We might unleash Jenas and you unleash RVP mmm let me think who I would prefer!! Should be goals tomorrow night atleast and for the first time I will be watching the game in 3D!! Draw is bad for both of us so hopefully it will be end to end stuff, with us out scoring you!! So 0-0 it is then!!! COYS
MullerTheYid
MTY, no need to worry. Robin will not play the full match and it'll be his first time on the pitch after many months. He won't be able to do very much at all -- and he'll probably suffer some niggly injury after one of your guys brushes past him. It's crazy to choose this game as his first one after being out so long.
jaelle
Thats True Jaelle, it will be a bit hostile for a comeback after 5 months! The good news is that Jenas has been ruled out of the game! Unfortunately so have Lennon and Kranjk!! Its going to be a funny old game but in all honesty the fact that we havnt beaten you in the league for 20 games does fill me with too much confidense!! Watch this space I guess! Can anyone tell me if this 3D mallarky is any good??
MullerTheYid
ROBIN VAN PERSIE!! CLAP CLAP CLAPCLAPCLAP! i dont care if he isnt 100% at 50% he will be more effective on the right or left than anyone else we have available, leave bender in the middle
bootoo
Considering that RvP is likely to start against Wigan, giving him 20 mins as a substitute in trow's game doesn't appear as a massive risk to me. There is a risk attached obviously but what RvP's substitution can potentially do for us is very positive - he can goad us to keep possession in case we are ahead or rally the side if its a very tight game. RvP is an experienced pro and a match winner and in Cesc's absence our team could really do with someone like him in big games.
Deltaforce
When the Arsenal medic dept declares a player fit, he's normally a week or 2 away from being match fit. I hope RvP is not really required this game, and the others can take care of things, but that might just be wishful thinking.
prits
I dont see a risk LD. The ankle is meant to be 100 percent and only match fitness is a problem. The worst that could happen is he pulls a hamstring/calf and misses thew rest of the season. I think it is a risk woth taking
paul_ownz
Delta what makes you think that RvP is likely to start against Wigan? Surely it's too early for that.
ArsenalRob
"The ankle is meant to be 100 percent." I've heard that osrt of stuff from our medical staff before. Tearing ankle ligaments as seriously as RvP did makes them very fragile for a long time, if he gets any kind of recurrence, we're not talking two or three weeks, we're talking another five months and a negative effect on the strength of his ankles for the rest of his career. I realise he has to test it at some point, but let's just say our medical guys give me zero reason to trust them.
Little Dutch
MTY - You might want to think twice before slating Jenas for being a starter against us .... I don't rate the guy personally, but his scoring record in NLD's is Pires-esque.
Rocky7
What's the worry? we needed him for the CL but it's gone a match shy half fit RVP aint really gonna make the diff for the last five games in my view. I'm all up for sticking him on for all 450 mins though, let's just get some value for money before sending him to Van Marwijk broken.
nikolaijns
"his scoring record in NLD's is Pires-esque." - exactly, I'm glad he won't be there tomorrow.
jaelle
I'm hoping it's a sub appearance we're talking about - not throwing him straight into the high-intensity derby, saving him when Spurs are bound to tire (after the 120 mins at Wembley) and hopefully we're doing ok enough towards the last 15, 20 mins of the game for Robin (and probably Theo) to come on and do further damage. And yeah, good for us that Jenas and Palacios are out, Kranjcar and Corluka doubtful. But then Crouch's scoring record against us is a little bit Drogba-esque too (a bit exaggarated but you get the idea). We need the Verminator and Sol to be at their best!
GoonerLou
I don't even think he'll come on, depends on the game I guess. He'll see the last 15 mins tops. He won't start Lou, Wenger has said as much. I just think he said it as a subtle psyche out to drop the heads of weary depleted sp*rs players.
nikolaijns
good! goood! goooood!! any type of VP is beta than nuffin FFS! bring it on
shady gunna
We've had this conversation before. If anyone is going to break him, I'd rather it be us now, rather than him getting injured for Holland in June.
gunnerkid107
Sleep well Gooners, Super Jenas has been ruled out of the fixture due to injury aswell. Im still not quite sure how to take the news
HuddersfieldYiddo
Rocky and Jaelle he might be pires esque scoring wise but he also let your midfield through him to score boat loads of goals! We have never beaten you when he has started, actually you can say that about our whole team apart from king!!
MullerTheYid
I was so happy then the News was confirmed that RvP will be in the squad for our trip to WHL. I hope he comes off the bench and scores 2 goals abit like Cesc did against Aston Villa. But unlike Cesc, I don't want Robin to go off injured!
imo What better match to come back to, RvP will be up for tonight, No Worries about that!
hackneyval
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