Wenger pleased with van Persie

Arsenal midfielder Robin van Persie is set to start his first league game since August against Fulham on Saturday after being sidelined with an ankle injury.

The Holland international played 70 minutes against Wigan in the Carling Cup and has now regained full fitness.

Arsene Wenger is relishing the chance to see van Persie back in action and feels he can play a major role for Arsenal as they look to challenge for the title this season.

Wenger said: “Van Persie is getting stronger every day. He had 70 minutes the other night and I am confident that if we can get him injury free in the next three weeks he will be back to his best level.”

Wenger has no doubts that Van Persie can forge an impressive partnership with Marouane Chamakh and is hoping they can score goals to help Arsenal regain top spot in the Premier League.

He added: “We can play Chamakh and Van Persie together. We can play Chamakh up front and van Persie behind. What is interesting is we can play all kinds of formations with the two.”

With Chelsea dropping two more points against Newcastle last weekend, Arsenal are now just two points behind leaders Manchester United.

Wenger admits he has never seen a season where the big teams keep dropping points and is hoping his side can put a consistent run together and improve their home form after losing the last two league games at Emirates Stadium against Newcastle and Tottenham.

“It is the first time it has been like that. All the other teams have improved certainly. It is difficult at the moment to have a real consistency,” he said.

“Manchester United have been the most consistent but they have won fewer games so they couldn’t get away from anybody else.”

“Maybe it’s down to the fact that the teams who play in the Champions League, they do not always manage to win after that. As well the teams in the middle of the table have become much stronger.”

“Let’s focus on playing well. We won on Tuesday night and we won the game before against Aston Villa, so it will be down to the quality of our performance.”

Wenger is once again without keeper Manuel Almunia who suffered a setback to his elbow in training on Thursday. Cesc Fabregas will be out for another two weeks, but Samir Nasri and Sebastien Squillaci have recovered from knee injuries.