Arsenal: Alan Shearer Tips Robin van Persie To Break His EPL Scoring Record

The highlight of today will undoubtedly be the Champions League draw which will take place in Nyon, Switzerland, but a few headlines have dominated the Arsenal world and I'll like to share them with you.

Starting with everybody's favorite section of the news, FC Cologne's Lukas Podolski has given Arsenal and probably any other club interested in him the "green light" by saying that he'd prefer to move abroad. He also stated that he'll give preference to a team playing Champions League football.

The Polish-born German international has notched up 95 caps at the age of 26 and has scored 43 goals for the national team. He's not really a prolific goal scorer at club level but he sure knows when to come up with the goods, especially when the chips are down.

His possible arrival to North London will be highly welcomed by Gooners worldwide because he'll provide stiff competition with Gervinho and Andrey Arshavin on the left wing and can also be deployed in the center forward position when Robin van Persie needs to take a breather.

Speaking of van Persie, issues concerning his stalled contract talks are emanating again but Arsenal's chairman Peter Hill-Wood told the Daily Star that he's confident van Persie would stay at Arsenal:

"I think Robin wants to stay, he seems very happy."

"Nothing has been discussed, though it is obvious we want him to stay. He doesn't want to talk about a contract now and that's fine with us."

I've had my fair share of words concerning the striker's contract issue so I won't bother myself writing about it again, but the latest noteworthy news regarding van Persie comes from the lips of the greatest-ever striker to grace the Premier League, Alan Shearer.

The English legend scored 283 league goals across three clubs he played for with his highest goal haul recorded in his Newcastle days.

However, there's a Premier League record he held that is currently threatened by van Persie.

Alan Shearer scored 36 league goals in a calendar year and Arsenal's dynamo is just three goals short of reaching it.

Shearer was full of praise for the Dutch forward, telling a couple of media vultures gathered that Robin van Persie will break his record:

“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...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.”

“Van Persie can score goals any way you like. He puts away headers, tap-ins and rockets.”

After playing Manchester City on the 18th of December, Arsenal will visit Villa Park to take on Aston Villa on the 21st before hosting Wolves and QPR on the 26th and 31st of December respectively.

As long as van Persie remains fit in these fixtures, the likelihood of him being a record-breaker will be very high.

While van Persie has been in the spotlight for all the right reasons, his deputies haven't really gotten chances to prove themselves.

Korean Park Chu-Young arrived at Arsenal after skipping his medical with LOSC Lille Metropole but the Korean captain has featured sparingly for the Gunners.

With Marouane Chamakh getting ready to board a plane to Gabon and Equatorial Guinea for the 2012 African Cup of Nations, Park will be the only spare striker left in the club and he'll be odds-on to start against Leeds United in the FA Cup third round.

Sky Sports have reported that Park is primed to take his chance in Chamakh's absence:

"All my teammates are great players, I do not expect a chance for me because a player is unavailable. I will do my best to prepare myself to take any random chances at any time."

"I am new to this club and to the Premier League. I am trying hard to learn more and more.

"I don't worry about getting used to everything or anything. My teammates are nice to me and I do not have any problems at all regarding training."

I still have fond memories of Park's superb curler against Bolton, and the way he has been on target for his country this season has been pretty stunning.

After scoring that free kick in the 2010 World Cup that sent Nigeria packing, Park has gone on to score eight more goals for his country (including a hat trick against Lebanon), taking his goal tally to 23 in 57 apps for Korea.

Since we are gearing up ourselves for the yuletide season, why not have a look at Bleacher Report writer Jake Little's article tagged "10 things Arsenal fans want for Christmas."

Trust me, you'll love every point.

Sayonara.