ROBIN VAN PERSIE will take one of my records away from me before the end of the month.
I'm pretty sure of that and I'll be the first to congratulate him.
He will beat my total of 36 Premier League goals in a calendar year — a record, by the way, I was unaware of until it was mentioned to me on Match of the Day at the weekend.
I set that mark back in 1995, when I was with Blackburn.
But records are there to be broken and I can think of no better striker than the Dutchman to write his name in the history books.
He has answered a lot of questions over the last 12 months with 33 goals in 32 Premier League games — and not just as his team's main striker but as Arsenal captain.
He has shouldered both of those responsibilities and replied to his critics by doing the hardest job in football, putting the ball in the net on a regular basis.
People have argued with me that strikers don't make good captains because it is hard to influence the team when you are leading the line.
I don't go along with that. I managed it OK.
There are different types of skipper and Van Persie is not the roll-your-sleeves-up type who offers loud vocal encouragement.
He is someone who leads by example with the excellence of his performances. Team-mates will always be inspired by that kind of skipper.
We have always known he was a top player.
There have been nagging doubts in the past about his fitness and his ability to play a long spell of games without interruption.
He has put that right over the last year and proved beyond doubt he is up there with the world's best.
Van Persie can score goals any way you like. He puts away headers, tap-ins and rockets.
The volley which won the game against Everton last Saturday was, I suppose, a definitive strike by the in-form Arsenal man.
Now he has four games left this year to get the record — trips to Manchester City and Aston Villa and home clashes with Wolves and QPR.
What we have to remind ourselves is that he carries the burden of getting most of his team's goals on his own shoulders.
No disrespect to his team-mates, and I know that football is a team game, but he has won so many games and secured so many points that it is hard to believe the Gunners' season would have turned around so dramatically without him.
He plays a lone role most of the time and that makes a difficult job even harder.
Arsenal tend to play with two wide men with Van Persie often isolated up front on his own. That's why his achievement is extra special.
I was fortunate enough to have strike partners like Chris Sutton and Mike Newell at Blackburn and Les Ferdinand and Peter Beardsley at Newcastle.
It didn't make scoring goals easy but it helped to have quality players like those to share the load.
Van Persie thrives on going it alone and his overall movement and knack of getting into the right place at the right time is a vital part of his game.
I have to say also that he has been excellently managed by Arsene Wenger.
ROBIN RELIABLE ... Van Persie has been lethal
The Arsenal boss has left Van Persie out of some games to give him a rest and taken him off in quite a few others to ensure the demands of a long season are not too great for him.
If you ask me what his valuation is in the current market, that's a tough one. You have to remember that he has only 18 months left on his contract at the Emirates and that will affect the price Arsenal could ask for the Dutchman.
They would have to accept a lot less money if he were heading for his final year without a new deal in place.
But if you were to put him in the same situation as Fernando Torres and Andy Carroll, who left Liverpool and Newcastle respectively in mid-contract, then you would have to put him in a similar price range as those highly-priced strikers.
To Arsenal, he is simply invaluable because his goals have been so productive in terms of games won.
For them to even consider selling Van Persie would be unthinkable and I am sure Arsenal will be doing all they can to get him to sign an extended contract.
There will be no shortage of takers if he does decide to leave because his reputation has soared so much in the last 12 months.
A lot will depend on how Arsenal's season pans out.
If they continue to progress up the Premier League, qualify for the Champions League again and go a long way in the European competition this term, then that will provide boss Wenger with some powerful ammunition to persuade his super striker to stay.
Top Prem scorers in a year
1. Alan Shearer (1995) 36
2. Thierry Henry (2004) 34
3. Robin van Persie (2011) 33
4. Alan Shearer (1994) 30
5. Les Ferdinand (1995) 30
6. Ruud van Nistelrooy (2003) 30
7. Alan Shearer (2002) 27
8. Matt Le Tissier (1994) 27
TALENT ... Oriol Romeu
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