Fantastic Cesc Fabregas joins European football’s elite

Four-some goals: while Fabregas’s opener was hardly one for the scrapbook, further goals from Samir Nasri, the Arsenal skipper and Abou Diaby were all from the top drawer
11 April 2012

After enduring a torrid campaign last season, it appears Cesc Fabregas is making the strongest case yet that he is the most effective midfielder in European football.

A troublesome knee injury which kept him out for four months and being handed the responsibility of captaincy were unforeseen complications to the Spaniard's fledgling career.

But the 22-year-old has been in supreme form both technically and aesthetically, he scored twice during Arsenal's comfortable 4-1 demolition of AZ Alkmaar last night, suggesting that Wenger has unlocked his potential in the most emphatic way possible and rendering Fabregas's complaints over his inability to adapt to a more attacking role as mere growing pains.

In 14 matches this season, he has 11 assists and eight goals to his name and there is no sign of that devastating form abating any time soon.

It says a lot about the Spaniard's versatility that he has been able to largely abandon the old diagonal pass to find Emmanuel Adebayor in space that for so long was his stock creative ball, and can combine so effectively in a new system with a totally different front man.

Such is the defensive shield that Abou Diaby and Alex Song — who deserve substantial credit in their own right — produce on a now regular basis since those defeats to Manchester's City and United, that Arsenal have already scored 51 goals from 17 different players.

"Have I ever had as many options on the creative side? Certainly not," said Wenger.

"We still have Nicklas Bendtner and Theo Walcott, who are offensive players, who are not available.

"Denilson, Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky did not start . . . that is why I was amazed when people said buy, buy, buy' last summer. And we have Carlos Vela as well — I forgot him.

"We always try to play exactly the same game. When we played Alkmaar in Holland, they were organised not to concede.

"When you play away, the commitment is a bit stronger, the referee is a bit more lenient so it's more difficult to express it than at home.

"It was a brilliant performance. We dominated
technically and tactically and we were never under threat. We played with confidence, we were technically astute and overall I am very happy indeed."

While Chelsea and Manchester United, who face each other in The League on Sunday, rested big names in their drawn matches last night, Wenger adopted the opposite policy and named his strongest side on the proviso they would do the job in double quick time — and so it proved.

AZ goalkeeper Sergio Romero can feel more than a touch embarrassed at conceding Fabregas's accurate but tame 25th-minute shot inside his near post but thereafter each goal was of trademark Arsenal majesty.

Samir Nasri, who made an encouraging step on his return to full fitness, collected Andrey Arshavin's neat pass to curl a lovely shot around Romero on the stroke of half-time, before the
Russian turned provider for Fabregas to wrong-foot the keeper and steer his shot high into the net.

Fabregas and Robin van Persie were promptly withdrawn for preservation as AZ provided painfully little prospect of mounting a reply and Arshavin (left) earned a rest of his own with another assist, this time slipping in Abou Diaby after an outrageous back-heel from substitute Eduardo, and the Frenchman duly slotted home.

Jeremain Lens scored a late consolation goal — with Manuel Almunia somewhat suspect in its concession — but this was an overwhelmingly positive night for Wenger and his team.

Arsenal need only a point against Standard Liege to qualify from this stage of the competition for the 10th successive season — quite a record for a team whose chairman claimed at last month's AGM that they budget on the basis of not even playing in the Champions League once every four seasons.

"We are consistent," said Wenger. "We grow from game to game. We get stronger from game to game and it's important to keep that attitude to progress and improve, play for each other and improve even more. We have to believe in our future.

"The competition gets more difficult the more you go on. I believe we have quality — I said before the season that I believe in them but it is down to us to go and be consistent. Then we see how far we can go in this competition."

Along with the diminutive Arshavin, who turned in another excellent display, and of course Van Persie, Fabregas will palpably be integral to Arsenal's hopes.

With an inviting trip to newly-promoted Wolves on Saturday, surely even the sternest objector would not bet against another master-class from the Spaniard given the statistics he can currently boast.

If he is not in your fantasy football team, he really should be.

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