Gunners boss believes Van Persie's attitude is spot-on

12:18pm Monday 15th September 2008

ARSENE Wenger was pleased to see Robin van Persie hand strike partner Emmanuel Adebayor the chance to score from the spot in Arsenal's 4-0 win over Blackburn at the weekend, insisting it illustrates the 'collective spirit' oozing through the squad.

Van Perise opened the scoring on Saturday with his third goal of the league campaign and as the Gunners' number one penalty taker was steeling himself to take the team's second-half spot-kick after Emmanuel Eboue had been brought down.

But Adebayor, whose first-half header was his first goal of the season, requested to take the penalty and van Persie duly stood aside, allowing his team-mate to score and give him the confidence to go on and complete a morale-boosting hat-trick.

That generosity delighted Wenger, and the Frenchman knows it is a good sign that the squad are growing together as they prepare to launch a title charge this season.

"I like the fact that Van Persie gave him the penalty," Wenger told the club's official website.

"That is good for the team spirit as he had not scored before today in the league this season. In the end he got a hat-trick and that will give him the needed confidence.

"The number one penalty-taker is Van Persie, the number two is Adebayor. But they have the right to reverse it. So this decision is down to Van Persie. He gave the ball to Adebayor, who had asked him if he could take it.

"Last week, Van Persie scored two, this weekend Adebayor scored aswell. I believe this shows that the team has a collective spirit and everybody can score."