Arsenal striker Robin van Persie says reaching 100 goals for the club has inspired his recent form.

The club captain admits he takes his personal stats seriously.

"I like stats, sometimes they can tell half the story and can help you find the solution for the whole story," he told Arsenal's Official Magazine.

"The moment I started to think about reaching 100 goals for Arsenal was roughly when I was on 82 goals.

"I knew that not many players had done it before, and I knew that Paul Merson finished on 99. That's basically the same as 100 though because I'm sure he must have had a couple of goals that were given wrongly offside. So we should give him that I think!

"But I also knew that many great players, legends, didn't score 100 goals. So of course it was something that got me going."