Gunners still fab with or without Fab, insists Wenger

ARSENE WENGER insists Arsenal are not a one-man band as he welcomes back skipper and midfield inspiration Cesc Fabregas against Manchester City today after a four-month injury absence.

MORE THAN ONE MAN Arsene Wenger MORE THAN ONE MAN: Arsene Wenger

After Barcelona made it publicly clear this week that they want to bring Fabregas back home, the focus is even more on the Spaniard’s return to action since damaging knee ligaments against Liverpool on December 21.

The untimely, unwelcome intervention of Barcelona president Joan Laporta, and Real Madrid in the past, has simply rekindled the incessant speculation that surrounds Fabregas’s long-term future no matter how often the player insists he is happy at the club to which he is under contract until 2014.

But the phrase that the whole is often greater than the sum of its parts applies to Arsenal probably more than ever this season, and maybe even the future, whether players such as Fabregas, 21, do stay or go. Injury problems this term have also denied them Emmanuel Adebayor and Theo Walcott for lengthy periods – though both return to the squad today – as well as Tomas Rosicky since January last year, but Arsenal have still managed to hang on in there.

A Champions League quarter-final, an FA Cup semi-final and an unbeaten 16-match Premier League run since losing 3-0 at Manchester City in November – currently the best in the top flight – provide tangible evidence. Wenger said: “I have always said that we have a good squad. People forget we are not a one-man team.

“We have eight games in 24 days and that means our success will be determined by the squad. We cannot focus on individuals.

“Adebayor has done well, he is another weapon we have in attack but all our players have grown during that period and have become very important.

“The fact we are in a strong position is down to the quality and the attitude of the squad because we have had a lot of unfavourable opinions and have fought against that.”

As witnessed by his recent off-the-field actions against Hull, Fabregas’s commitment to the Arsenal cause is self-evident. “But that will not stop people writing about it,” Wenger said. “So what is the need for me to deny or not deny what has been said?

“If I don’t deny it, it comes back again next week. What is important for us is to beat Manchester City.

“It’s not important what people say in Spain. If you put the Barca story in front of me I wouldn’t even read it.

“Why should I be disappointed (at Barcelona’s behaviour)? I’m not. If I was disappointed it would mean I expect other behaviour. We get that sort of thing all the time because everyone wants our players.

“We want to be successful to the end of the season and it’s important we focus on our short-term targets. What is important is that a player like Cesc can come back.

“How has he coped? He has been very impatient, that is natural, but he has worked very hard. We have been on a good run without him so he faces a big challenge.”

Fabregas said: “During the past week I’ve felt really sharp. Whether I start or I am on the bench I’ll be very happy because I will feel like a footballer again.

“Hopefully we can get the three points – we have to remember what Manchester City did to us in beating us 3-0 a few months ago and try to continue our good form because we have to play eight finals from now on.”

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