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Wenger pays tribute to 'exceptional' Van Persie

Robin van Persie scored three against Chelsea © PA Photos

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Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger had the highest praise for Robin van Persie after the striker's hat-trick helped the Gunners' to an impressive 5-3 victory against Chelsea on Saturday.

Van Persie showed a clinical edge in front of goal to beat Petr Cech three times at Stamford Bridge, with Andre Santos and Theo Walcott getting the other two goals. The Dutchman is now the Premier League's top scorer with ten goals from ten games, and Wenger is in awe of his current form.

"He is, of course, on fire," Wenger said. "He takes advantage with class of the fact we attack a lot, that we create chances.

"The intelligence of his movement around the box and the accuracy of his finishing is exceptional."

Victory against Chelsea represented Arsenal's third league win in a row, after starting the season with some sorry displays. Wenger believes the club are finally seeing the results of a complete overhaul of their playing squad right at the end of the transfer window - when he had to react quickly to replace the departed Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri.

"What has changed is we got half of the team in on 31 August," he said. "We had to rebuild complete unity in the way we want to play football. Every win makes you stronger. Now the players get used to the way we want to play so we get stronger.

"We have still some ground to make up in the league, and the teams in front of us do not drop many points. The quality we have shown today should make us more confident.

"We showed great spirit because when you are 2-1 down just before half-time … we came out straight away with a complete desire to go forward. We looked dangerous for the whole game and I hope the team continues to focus on getting stronger and stronger."

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