The Manchester United and Arsenal strikers have bagged 51 league goals between them already this season. Have they lifted the standard of the league?
While debate will rage through both sets of supporters as to who is the better player, there is no disputing that both Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie have had standout seasons.
If you cast your minds back to 2010-11 – the Premier League’s top scorers were Carlos Tevez and Dimitar Berbatov.
They shared the Golden Boot with 20 goals each for their Manchester rivals.
Their combined total of 40 goals has already been surpassed, with Rooney and Van Persie already exceeding 50 goals together.
Statistically the simple answer to the question would dictate that yes, they have raised the bar, but let’s examine it a little further.
In 2009-10 Didier Drogba top scored with 29 league goals, which would beg a similar question as to whether Tevez and Berbatov lowered it a year later.
Which would be especially harsh a question to ponder, considering Tevez and Berbatov had Premier League personal best seasons last time out in scoring 20 goals each.
It could be argued that Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie allowed Tevez and Berbatov a run at the golden boot last season by having such mixed seasons.
Van Persie missed the first half of the campaign through injury, although returned in magnificent form in 2011, scoring almost a goal a game. Rooney likewise had a terrible start, with a World Cup hangover of poor form, personal troubles, and a contract dispute all affecting his game, before finally looking to pick it up in April.
In Van Persie’s case especially, it can be argued that had he been fortunate with injuries, he almost certainly would have won the Golden Boot; he finished just two behind the winners, scoring 18 goals.
So rather than purely a case of raising the bar, it is also a matter of continuing his own high standards into this season.
The battle is very much on for this year’s Golden Boot- Rooney is just three behind Van Persie with four matches to play each, a not insurmountable lead.
Van Persie will want to score three goals of his own to become the first striker to score 30 league goals in England’s top division since Cristiano Ronaldo in 2007-08 and Thierry Henry in 2003-04.
The final point to consider, is that the standard of the league’s top teams has also increased.
Manchester United currently lead the table with 82 points. Last season they won it with 80.
Arsenal collected 68 points last season and currently have 64, so are on target to surpass last season’s tally with four games remaining, although Monday’s defeat to Wigan was a much unexpected setback.
Manchester City too are already six points up on last season’s total, so it stands to reason that if the Premier League’s top teams have raised their own games, their star players will do so too.
Both strikers have taken on added personal responsibility this season, particularly Van Persie, who at times has seemed to drag Arsenal towards victories particularly early in the season when the rest of their side seemed bereft of form and confidence.
Rooney too has taken on more of a leadership role at United, and is more mature, far from the moody confidence shy striker that begun the 2010-11 season.
Both began the season in fine form, which has only spurred them on, and the added responsibility has challenged them both to play at their peak- and indeed raise the bar and set a new standard for the rest of the Premier League to chase.
image: © nasmac
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