Van Persie: We have answered on our critics

Arsenal last match hero believe that gunners still have quality to win the premiership.

Robin van Persie struck twice in five second-half minutes to lead Arsenal to a hugely important 2-1 victory against Chelsea at the weekend.

The Blues went ahead in the first half thanks to an unfortunate own-goal from Johan Djourou, and they looked by far the better team for much of the evening.

But the visitors demonstrated a gritty side to their game which has rarely been sighted this season, and Van Persie told The Sun: “We showed a lot of self-belief and character to win against Chelsea.

“Everybody thought ‘OK, we can win this game if we fight and stick together’.

“That is what we did so it was a big compliment for the whole team.

“That is the answer we wanted to give our critics. The last couple of weeks had been very difficult — we’d been losing points. But if we stayed together and fought for every ball, we had a chance against Chelsea.

“There’s still a long way to go but we set a big, big example. I’m really happy about the team spirit as it’s been a frustrating time.”

Arsenal sit fourth in the Premier League standings, eight points adrift of leaders Liverpool.