Debate: Arsenal back on title challenge thanks to Fabregas?
Fabulous Fabregas settles the outcome of tight enounter with a match-winning cameo as brilliant goal scoring impact substitute.
He only needed 28 minutes, but it was enough.
One devastating free kick and a surge of speed that over-stretched his hamstring brought two goals and victory for Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium on Sunday.
Yes, Cesc Fabregas, captain of Arsenal and one of the best midfield players in Europe, is the perfect impact substitute.
The Catalan creator arrived after 56 minutes as an emergency substitute – Arsene Wenger had said he was not fully fit and would only be called on in dire need – but was the match-winner for his team.
As soon as he stripped off to join the fray, his mere presence lifted the crowd who were growing impatient and inspired his team.
His understanding with Andrey Arshavin was immediately apparent again and Arsenal went up through the gears to deliver their trademark exhibition of flowing and attacking football.
When he was too fast for Richard Dunne with his footwork and movement, the defender tripped him.
From the free-kick, around 25 metres out, Fabregas produced an arcing right-foot shot that cleared the defensive wall and dipped down and inside the goalkeeper’s right post.
It was a sublime strike from Fabregas and it turned the game for Arsenal after a tight opening hour in an evenly-matched encounter that finished with the Gunners temporarily taking over second place in the Premier League.
On this form, with Fabregas at his best, Arsenal have a chance to maintain their title challenge – but they need to carry this kind of form at home into their away games.
Fabregas produced his second goal of the game and his ninth of the season with an equally devastating strike after 80 minutes when he sprinted from the halfway line to latch on to a pass from Theo Walcott and guide a firm shot beyond Brad Friedel.
The run was enough to stretch Fabregas’ troublesome hamstring and bring him off, but he did more in his half-hour cameo to influence the outcome of this decisive contest than any other player.
Fabregas was voted man of the match, but more significantly, he won the contest for Arsenal and proved that, without him, they can be found to struggle to unlock tight defences.
The arrival in January of a new striker – assuming Wenger moves in the transfer window to recruit a man to lead the forward line – will make Fabregas even more dangerous to opponents.
But first of all Arsenal need to make sure they can get him fit again and keep him fit because without Fabregas – and without the injured Robin van Persie – they are only half the team they are with both men in top form.
This extraordinary cameo from the Catalan was one of the most remarkable and brief match-winning shows in Premier League history and deserves to be remembered beyond the perimeters of Ashburton Grove.
And if Arsenal do finish above Aston Villa at the end of the season, it will be fabulous Fabregas who deserves most credit on this evidence .. but is this means they back on title challenge?
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magnificent fabregas!
yeah.. nice goal. but overall their play is carca-marba…
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