van Persie rescues the day for Arsenal

Robin van Persie came off the bench to score two goals in the last 15 minutes and help his side to a 3-1 victory over Stoke City at the Emirates Stadium. Gervinho had scored the first Arsenal goal, and Peter Crouch scored the equaliser.

The Gunners have had some memorable battles with Stoke City in recent years, but this one required two moments of genius from Robin van Persie to ensure the victory went to Arsenal.

Arsenal started quietly, and Stoke City tried hard to put the Gunners under pressure with a range of long balls. But, German defender Per Mertesacker was doing very well in the Arsenal defence, keeping the ball away from Peter Crouch.

Gervinho should have opened the scoring after 15 minutes, but he lost the ball and Stoke keeper Begovic was able to take advantage.

That would not stop Gervinho, who, just 7 minutes later, scored his second goal for the Gunners with a great finish thanks to a wonderful pass from Welsh midfielder Aaron Ramsey.

But, as has been the story for much of Arsenal's season, they couldn't keep hold of the lead. From a free kick, Ryan Shawcross beat a defender to dink the ball into Matthew Upson, who with a slight touch setup Jon Walters to head into the path of Peter Crouch. The former Tottenham man was there to side foot into the back of the net.

Into the second half, Arsenal seemed to be playing for a draw as the ineffective Marouane Chamakh struggled to take the game by the scruff of the neck.

Arsene Wenger then decided to bring the rested Robin van Persie off the bench, and he made an instant impact.

The Dutchman took advantage of an excellent run and cross from Ivorian Gervinho, and Robin van Persie was on hand to touch the ball into the goal past the goalkeeper.

Gervinho and van Persie then repeated the same very trick, in an almost carbon copy goal from the opposite side. Gervinho ran down the flank to tap the ball in for van Persie, who scored his second with a deflection off of Begovic.

An important three points for Arsenal, who now move up to 7th in the league.