Van Persie's inury is more of an opportunity than it is a setback
By Soteris Charalambous
There's never a good time to lose your leading striker, especially when he's playing the best football of his career, but the loss of Robin van Persie for six weeks is not a significant blow to our chances of winning trophies this season.
Van Persie has had an injury plagued career, missing significant chunks of every season since his arrival five years ago, so the news on Saturday night that he'd been injured on international duty wasn't a huge surprise.
The fact that Nicklas Bendtner is also out until early December removes the first, and most obvious replacement, from the pecking order. But in Eduardo we have a striker who is more than capable of filling the role, and will benefit playing in the central striker's position.
Eduardo is a natural predator, lethal in front of goal in the way Robbie Fowler was for Liverpool. Injury has played a significant role in why he isn't the Club's leading striker - remember Arsene Wenger paid 16 million pounds for him - but he is now fit and ready to show the manager he can give the side what he was originally brought for and finish off the abundence of chances we make.
Behind Eduardo is Theo Walcott, another who has suffered significant injury problems, and he will be desperate to put in some performances that will catch the eye of England coach Fabio Capello and earn a place in the World Cup squad. A fit Bendtner and Van Persie would have resulted in a significant stint of bench duty even when fit. If Walcott has what it takes, he must know this is his chance.
Carlos Vela is another player who will benefit from the absence of the top two. He'll certainly be on the bench at the very least and he too knows he has a real chance to show that he's good enough to play in this league for this Club.
The timing of this double blow is also better than could be expected. We've virtually qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League and a Chelsea side, who are also significantly weakend by injuries, are the only title contenders we are playing during his absence. We'll also play Liverpool during his recovery, but they have lost so many games already this season that they can't seriously be considered title rivals. And unlike Liverpool, and Chelsea we are not a team who are overly reliant on one player for goals. The loss of Fernando Torres and Didier Drogba respectively, is far more damaging than is  the loss of Van Persie because Arsenal's goals are spread all over the squad. This is why our style of play is so important. There is such a high level of fluidity in our attacking play and interchangeability within the squad that the loss of key players is easier to compensate for. When fit and on form Van Persie is a certain starter, but we have players who can come in for him. However, an injury to Alexander Song, Thomas Vermaelen or William Gallas would have been more difficult to cope with as defensively we do not have the depth of squad to replace them adequately.
Assuming there are no complications during the recovery process Van Persie will return, fit and fresh in the New Year. If we and he are lucky he'll play the rest of the season, and being fit during the business end of the season will be far more significant to our trophy winning chances than his loss at this stage of the season.
We've built a decent platform in the league, we should still finish top of what was a weak Champions League group and the FA Cup is still a long way off. Wenger, like all managers is reluctant to change a winning side too much. But the absence of his top two frontmen has forced his hand. He'll now find out if what he has in reserve can be relied upon and that information will be crucial when the crunch games come thick and fast in the latter stages of the season.
Some injuries feel devastating for the team and fans alike, and there is no mistaking that this is a blow. But for me, Van Persie's injury is more reminiscent of losing Robert Pires to a cruciate knee ligament injury when he was playing the best football of his career. If the players can galvanise themselves and the fans back the players who replace him we will continue to win games and pick up the points we need to remain in contention for the league. A brief look at who we will face suggests it will be business as usual, and if, as I suspect, we beat Chelsea at the end of the month we will welcome back the Dutchman while sitting top of the league. Now that should be more than enough of an incentive to get fit as quickly as possible, with or without the placenta massages.