Van Persie eyes Cup clash

No one doubts Robin van Persie's talent, but despite being on the receiving end of several bruising challenges at Blackburn he kept his cool and gave the perfect response - scoring the winning goal as he capitalised on a superb through ball from Ashley Cole.

Four weeks ago - the last time he started a Premiership game - van Persie was the villain at Southampton, sent off in a game Arsenal had in their grasp and ended up drawing 1-1, infuriating Arsene Wenger.

The £3million summer signing from Feyenoord said: "I made a mistake at Southampton and I have learned from that. You could see that in my game at Blackburn. I learned that I must control my temper. I had three or four tackles on me but I didn't react. That red card, it was the lowest point of the season so far for me . . . the worst since coming to Arsenal."

Van Persie believes the victory has given Arsenal an edge ahead of the FA Cup semi-final between the two teams at Cardiff next month.

He said: "It was important to win this game before the FA Cup game. This has given us a psychological boost for the Cup game. And we won with a team with many young players . . . Cesc Fabregas, Philippe Senderos, Gael Clichy and Mathieu Flamini and we won against a tough team."