Arsenal striker Robin van Persie has admitted that he is proud to equal Thierry Henry’s goalscoring record for most goals in a calendar year.
The Netherlands international scored against Aston Villa on Wednesday night to make it 34 goals for the North London club in 2011, equalling the French attacker’s record.
Despite being honoured at achieving the tally, Van Persie feels that winning trophies for Arsene Wenger’s men is more important than individual accolades.
“It is a big honour to equal Thierry’s record because he is probably the best player Arsenal ever had. To achieve what he did in a year is really special. It makes me proud,” he told The Daily Mail.
“I think it has helped that I haven’t missed a single Premier League game and featured for 90 minutes in most of them.
“When you have a good run, and you feel fresh and fit, you try things, you take more risks here and there than, for example, if you are just coming back from injury. You always need a couple of games when you’re back from injury.
“As a striker I think it is really important to have a go. If you look at my performances, I take more risks now because I know with the team behind me I will always get more chances.
“It’s not that I only get one chance normally, I always get one, two, three, sometimes four chances in a game. That sort of tells me that I can take a risk here and there.
“It (the scoring records) is not my main target. The main target is to win games and to help my team out and to have a good run.
“After losing to Manchester City, it is always really important to bounce back after a defeat. Great teams do bounce back and that’s what we had to do at Villa on Wednesday.
“Now we have Wolves on Tuesday, then afterwards QPR both at home, so hopefully we can have a good run again,” he concluded.
By Gareth McKnight
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