Robin van Persie insists William Gallas's outburst about a disruptive influence in the dressing room was not aimed at him.

Gallas was stripped of the Arsenal captaincy by Arsene Wenger after he accused a 25-year-old player of alienating his colleagues with his behaviour. But Van Persie, who is that age, is confident he is not the target of the criticism.

"Are you suggesting that William was talking about me?" Van Persie said. "I don't know that, because he never told me anything and I didn't see my name in the papers, so I never felt that he was speaking about me. For me, there isn't a problem."

Gallas launched a scathing attack on his team-mates last month, accusing them of lacking courage and showing him disrespect.

"We are not brave enough in battle," Gallas said. "I think we need to be soldiers. We have to be warriors. There are teams who can do it well against us, and we have to be able to face up to these attacks."

He claimed that he is not to blame for the failings at the club, adding that he has been forced to break up a number of fights and disagreements, including one that took place at half-time during the 4-4 draw with Tottenham Hotspur.

"There are things that can't be said and can't be tolerated," he said. "When, as captain, some players come up to you and talk to you about a player ... complaining about him ... and then during the match you speak to this player and the player in question insults us. There comes a time where we can no longer comprehend how this can happen.

"I am trying to defend myself a bit without giving names. Otherwise I'm taking all the blame. It's very frustrating. I'm 31, the player is six years younger than me.

"There was a problem at half-time at Tottenham.The only thing that I could say at half-time was 'Guys, we resolve these problems after the match, not at half-time.'"

It was thought that Arsene Wenger, the manager, would drop Gallas completely but, under the new captaincy of Cesc Fabregas, he led the defence to victory over Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.