Arsenal's Sunday matchwinner, Robin van Persie, has refused to accept that he was the player William Gallas was referring to in the Frenchman's much-publicised remarks that lost him the captaincy.

Gallas said that a player, six years his junior and widely held to be Van Persie, was particularly confrontational and had shown him a lack of respect.

However, when asked about the comments the striker said: "[Gallas' criticisms] of me? Are you suggesting that William was talking about me? I don't know that, because he never told me anything and I didn't see my name in the papers as that he said anything like that, so I never felt that he was speaking about me because for me, there isn't a problem.
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• This article was originally published on page 26 of The Star on December 04, 2008