Title still ours to grasp, says defiant Van Persie

ROBIN VAN PERSIE maintains Arsenal still hold the destiny of the Barclays Premier League crown in their own hands and can use the “real blow” of recent disappointments to focus fully on delivering the title.

The Gunners have endured a testing spell since their shock Carling Cup final defeat to Birmingham at Wembley, having also seen European hopes extinguished in Barcelona before crashing out of the FA Cup at Manchester United.

Although Saturday’s 2-2 draw with relegation-battlers West Brom meant they lost more ground on the leaders, mathematically Arsene Wenger’s men are still in the driving seat.

However, while nine straight wins from here on in — including their game in hand at arch-rivals Tottenham, and when United come to the Emirates Stadium on May 1 — would secure a first championship since 2004, there is now also no more margin for error to keep things firmly in their own hands.

Van Persie — who took his season’s tally to 15 goals with a late equaliser at The Hawthorns, where Arsenal had trailed 2-0 — believes with no other fixtures to distract them, the Gunners can deliver that long-overdue trophy.

The Holland striker said: “It is a real blow that we threw away three trophies within the space of only three weeks. However, we still have another big objective and that is winning the Premier League title.

“We are five points behind Manchester United but have a game in hand, so we can narrow the gap to two points. It is actually an advantage that we are no longer active in other competitions, so we won’t get distracted.

“We still have everything in our own hands and will do our utmost to win the league title, even though we have been dealt a few big blows in recent weeks.”

Van Persie was controversially sent off in the Nou Camp for being shown a yellow card after shooting on goal just one second after Swiss referee Massimo Busacca had blown for offside — a whistle the Arsenal striker claimed he could not hear.

Both Gunners boss Wenger and midfielder Samir Nasri received one-match bans from UEFA for confronting the official at the end of the game. Arsenal confirmed yesterday they will decide early next week whether to appeal, with the UEFA report detailing the reasoning behind the bans expected by the end of the week.

Van Persie, though, does not want to dwell on the past.

“This is football. I don’t feel like our loss was an injustice. These things are all part of the game,” he said.

“Birmingham beat us in the final, but then lost the following four league games. The Premier League has been absolutely crazy this year.”

Meanwhile Arsenal were boosted with the news defender Johan Djourou will start training again in as little as four weeks. The club confirmed he does not need reconstructive surgery on the dislocated shoulder he suffered in the FA Cup exit at Old Trafford.

“He will now begin a period of rehabilitation on the shoulder before returning to training in around a month,” the club statement said.