Van Persie stars in his own one-man show

Has there ever been a Premier League side quite so dependent on one man as Arsenal are on Robin van Persie?

Matt Le Tissier at Southampton perhaps, but other than that, it’s hard to think of anyone quite so pivotal to his side as the Dutchman has been to the Gunners this season.

The stats are staggering. Van Persie has scored 25 goals from 26 starts this season, a phenomenal 45.45% of Arsenal’s Premier League tally of 55. To put the scale of Arsenal’s reliance on their captain into context their next highest goalscorer is Theo Walcott with just five, 11% of the total.

Gervinho and Mikel Arteta come next with four, 7.2% of the haul. Then comes Thomas Vermaelen with three efforts (5.4%). Alex Oxlade Chamberlain, the now departed Thierry Henry and Aaron Ramsey are next on the list with two goals apiece (3.6%) while Arsenal’s 55-goal tally is made up with eight other players scoring a single goal apiece (1.8%).

The dependency on van Persie is a huge issue for Wenger and Arsenal. The manager may insist his side are more than a one-man team but the stats suggest differently.

And despite Saturday’s win at Anfield and the 5-2 rout of north London rivals Tottenham six days previously deep-rooted problems remain at the club. Not qualifying for the Champions League for the first time since 1997 remains a very real danger.

Failing to finish in the top four could have serious implications as van Persie’s contract runs out at the end of next season and the Dutchman is understandably unlikely to sign an extension if Arsenal are not playing in Europe’s premier competition next season. That could force Arsenal to sell their talisman this summer rather than risk losing him for nothing in 2013.

The likelihood of a seventh successive season without a trophy — barring a Champions League miracle against AC Milan — means Wenger’s own future is under threat — but things could be worse. A lost worse. Had the notoriously injury-prone van Persie been unavailable this season Arsenal would have 19 less points, leaving them with a return of 30 points from 27 games. The Gunners would be just eight points above the relegation trap door.

The statistics are also a damning indictment of the Dutchman’s supporting cast, chiefly Walcott and Gervinho, who play either side of him in a three-man attack.

Put simply, neither score enough. Walcott, in particular, has struggled this season. Remarkably his brilliantly taken brace against Spurs were his first league goals at the Emirates since December 2010.

Other Premier League clubs spread the goals. For instance, Sergio Aguero is Manchester City’s top goalscorer in the league with 16 but Edin Dzeko and Mario Balotelli have chipped in as well, scoring 13 and 11 respectively.

Wayne Rooney is Manchester United’s top marksman with 18 but Javier Hernandez has scored eight times, Dimitar Berbatov seven, and Danny Welbeck and Nani have chipped in with six apiece.

It’s a similar story at Tottenham, with Emmanuel Adebayor (11), Gareth Bale (nine), Jermaine Defoe (eight) and Rafael van der Vaart (seven) sharing the burden.

It used to be the same with Arsenal.

When Thierry Henry was in his pomp players such as Dennis Bergkamp, Freddie Ljungberg and Robert Pires chipped in with significant contributions — but in the class of 2011/12 it’s all about one man: Robin Van Persie.

The man himself describes his goal-scoring exploits as “insane”.

Arsenal manager Wenger will hope to benefit from the insanity for a while to come.