Robin van Persie failed to score against Manchester city as Arsenal could only draw against them. To start the new year by beating the team lying one place above them in the top three would have been to take a big step on the way to maintaining a challenge for the club's first league title since 2003-04. And to achieve it they needed a continuation of the developing partnership between Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri, a continuation of the form that persuaded Wenger to prefer Theo Walcott to Andrey Arshavin for the third time in their past four league matches, and something more from Robin van Persie than the Dutchman has shown this season.
Robin Van Persie's form, for club and country, has been open to question since he returned last April from an ankle injury, suffered in an international friendly in November 2009. As Holland's first-choice striker in South Africa, he proved to be the least effective member of the losing finalists' attack, scoring only one goal, against Cameroon. In 11 appearances for Arsenal this season he has scored only twice: against Partizan in the Champions League last month and against Birmingham City in the 3-0 win at St Andrew's last Saturday, when his side gave the impression that they have finally learnt how to withstand bullying.
