What We're Reading
Van Persie 'Thrilled' with Probable EPL Title
- Guardian, Thursday, March 28, 2013 12:36 PM
Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini may have conceded the Premier League title, but
Manchester United striker Robin van Persie is taking nothing for granted. At 29, the Dutchman has yet to taste a league championship, but this year, a 13th Premier League title in 20
seasons looks a certainty for United, which is 15 points clear of second-place City with just nine games to play.
"That I'll probably win my first championship is very nice," van Persie
said in an interview. "I'm really thrilled about it. Not winning titles has given me quite some pain and it has made me greyer.” He added: "It still has to happen. We have to go to Sunderland
and West Ham, and we have to play Chelsea [in Monday's FA Cup quarterfinal replay] and if we win, we play back-to-back against City in the league and the FA Cup semi-final. Then we have Stoke. These
are not summer-night games. I watched United drop the lead last season but it's getting awfully close now, and I'm really happy with that."
The former Arsenal striker said he’s aware
of his recent drop in form for the Red Devils, having scored just one goal in his last ten appearances, but he notes that unlike during his time at Arsenal, not scoring is not necessarily a crisis for
his new club. "My teammates all stood up," van Persie said. "Shinji [Kagawa] scored a hat trick [against Norwich City] and Wayne [Rooney] produced his usual goals. So
that's nice, that it doesn't all go wrong [when he does not score.]"
In spite of the dip for his club, van Persie scored three times in two World Cup qualifiers for the Netherlands during
the international break, suggesting that he may be coming back to top form.
