Van Persie: Longer break will benefit Gunners

Many of the Arsenal squad spent last summer at the World Cup in South Africa, meaning the London side's preparations for the 2010/11 season were largely rushed.

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But with only fringe players such as Carlos Vela involved in tournament football this summer, Arsene Wenger's side have been afforded the opportunity to undertake a thorough pre-season.

“Almost everyone has had a good break of at least a month. It's very important. We didn't have a World Cup or European Championships so we will have good preparation," Van Persie told Arsenal's official website.

“We will have more than a month, I think five or six weeks, before the start of the season so we can prepare well. We can do our running sessions and our exercises, which is good.

“You could see that last year with Samir Nasri, who had a really good break before the season and was on fire. He was physically fresh, mentally fresh, could make his runs and was looking very strong.

“Hopefully a good pre-season can give us a good start because we need a good start.”

The start of Arsenal's season will be a hectic one, with Premier League matches against Newcastle United, Liverpool and Manchester United sandwiching the Gunners' Champions League qualifying play-off.

Gary Parkinson is a freelance writer, editor, trainer, muso, singer, actor and coach. He spent 14 years at FourFourTwo as the Global Digital Editor and continues to regularly contribute to the magazine and website, including major features on Euro 96, Subbuteo, Robert Maxwell and the inside story of Liverpool's 1990 title win. He is also a Bolton Wanderers fan.