Alan Shearer: RVP may take my record – but Arsenal must not lose him

There are different types of skipper and Van Persie is not the roll-your-sleeves-up type who offers loud vocal encouragement.

He is someone who leads by example with the excellence of his performances. Team-mates will always be inspired by that kind of skipper.

We have always known he was a top player.

There have been nagging doubts in the past about his fitness and his ability to play a long spell of games without interruption.

He has put that right over the last year and proved beyond doubt he is up there with the world's best.

Van Persie can score goals any way you like. He puts away headers, tap-ins and rockets.

The volley which won the game against Everton last Saturday was, I suppose, a definitive strike by the in-form Arsenal man.

Now he has four games left this year to get the record — trips to Manchester City and Aston Villa and home clashes with Wolves and QPR.

What we have to remind ourselves is that he carries the burden of getting most of his team's goals on his own shoulders.

No disrespect to his team-mates, and I know that football is a team game, but he has won so many games and secured so many points that it is hard to believe the Gunners' season would have turned around so dramatically without him.

He plays a lone role most of the time and that makes a difficult job even harder.

Arsenal tend to play with two wide men with Van Persie often isolated up front on his own. That's why his achievement is extra special.

I was fortunate enough to have strike partners like Chris Sutton and Mike Newell at Blackburn and Les Ferdinand and Peter Beardsley at Newcastle.

It didn't make scoring goals easy but it helped to have quality players like those to share the load.

Van Persie thrives on going it alone and his overall movement and knack of getting into the right place at the right time is a vital part of his game.

I have to say also that he has been excellently managed by Arsene Wenger.

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