Gunners rely too much on van Persie

Compared to Arsenal's wins over Bolton, Sunderland and Stoke, in which Robin van Persie looked like the only player capable of turning on the style, Arsenal didn't rely on the Dutchman that much against Chelsea.

The Gunners had Gervinho and Theo Walcott making runs into the huge amount of space behind the Chelsea defense, while Aaron Ramsey and Mikel Artetaenjoyed being given time on the ball to clip passes over the top for the forwards to run onto. At the back,Laurent Koscielny had a very good game, marshalingFernando Torres commendably. It's an oversimplification, but all van Persie did was score an open goal, a simple one-on-one chance, and a late fifth goal on the break.

And then you realize: If a player scores a crucial hat trick in a game, yet the side was relying on him less than usual, its overall reliance on him is quite staggering.

We are finally seeing the real Robin van Persie. It's baffling that he was left off the shortlist for the Ballon D'Or for 2011. He's scored 28 goals in 27 Premier League games this calendar year. While some yearn to see him play as a deep-lying forward behind another striker, the decision to move him up front is surely the major reason for his transformation into a truly consistent performer. He was first used in that role for Arsenal at the start of 2009-10, when he picked up seven goals and seven assists in 11 games, until injury wrecked his season. 2010 was a write-off at club level, though he did make the World Cup final with Holland as a center forward. But 2011 has been his best year yet. For the record, he doesn't consider himself as a No. 10 or No. 9. "I'm a nine-and-a-half," he told Arsenal Magazine earlier this year.

The vast majority of modern footballers say little of interest about the game. They've either never really thought about analyzing it in detail -- partly because their decision-making is instinctive rather than methodical -- or they're scared by the threat of media manipulation of their quotes. Torres made some enlightening remarks recently about how he thought Andre Villas-Boas' game would suit him, because the fresh new players brought in would be able to move the ball more quickly up to him, the sort of service he used to thrive on in his heyday at Liverpool. The tabloid headline interpretation of that was that he'd called many of his teammates "old and slow." No wonder players often don't bother speaking with the media.

Van Persie, though, is a brilliant talker, and listening to him chatting about football is a real pleasure. He has an analytical eye -- "I like stats, sometimes they can tell half the story and can help you find the solution for the whole story" -- and fully appreciates his teammates' qualities, their style of play and how Arsenal's football changes with different individuals. His relationship with Walcott has long been successful, and he seems to be building a similar partnership with Gervinho.

Maybe with that analytical mind, he'll appreciate that he has become too much of a pivotal player for Arsenal. He's scored 53 percent of its league goals in 2011, more than any other club has depended upon a single player for goals.

After Thierry Henry left the club, the Frenchman acknowledged that Arsenal had depended too much on him, and he had started to hold others back. He was the captain, the penalty taker, the free-kick taker, the corner taker, the top scorer, the fan favorite. They're all roles that van Persie now fulfills, and the worry is that Arsenal is too dependent on him, especially with his track record of injury problems.