Fabregas: Celebrates at Stamford Bridge
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Cesc: Gunners must build on win
Cesc Fabregas insists beating Chelsea will count for nothing Arsenal fail to repeat the performance against the rest of the Premier League.
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The Gunners hauled themselves back into the championship race when they came from behind to win 2-1 at Stamford Bridge following a second-half brace by Robin van Persie.
It was a first victory in the league since beating defending champions Manchester United on November 8, and helped claw Arsene Wenger's men back to within seven points of the Blues after previous successive defeats.
Fabregas feels the manner of the result has renewed Arsenal's belief following a troubled spell which saw William Gallas stripped of the captaincy for his public criticism of the squad.
However, the Spain international is all too aware if the Gunners fail to see off the challenges of other sides outside the top four - Hull, Stoke, Fulham and Manchester City have all beaten them this season - then the hard graft of Sunday's clash in west London will be 'worthless'.
"We showed a different attitude and that is what we want to do from now on," Fabregas told Arsenal TV Online.
"We have a new momentum, but if we do not do the same, then it is not worth it.
"We want to be competitive again in every game and see where we can go until the end of the season.
"We have shown we can do it, to beat the big teams, so we can have no excuse with not doing it against the rest of the teams.
"We have to be proud of what we did against Chelsea because we are a young side and have had a lot of criticism."
Wenger hailed the character of his side in fighting back after trailing to a first-half own goal from Johan Djourou.
Fabregas dedicated the result to the unwavering faith of their manager.
"Sometimes the boss has been the only one who has believed in us," the 21-year-old said.
"He knows what we can do and we proved against Chelsea that he is not wrong.
"Now it is up to us to keep going and doing it game by game."
It was a good end to Fabregas' first week as the new captain, following on from the home win over Dynamo Kiev which secured Arsenal's place in the knockout stages of the Champions League.
"For me, all that is important is the attitude of the team, the discipline and the character we show," he said.
"When you play next to these guys, you can see the effort they put in and that they are not afraid to play against anyone in the league.
"I am really proud to be their captain and hopefully we can keep going like that."
Deposed skipper Gallas produced a composed display in defence against his old club - and on another day might have scored to silence the Stamford Bridge boo-boys.
Wenger praised the 31-year-old's attitude.
"I think William was outstanding, absolutely amazing," he said.
"He came out of that troublesome period with, for me, a lot of credit.
"His commitment is fantastic and he was outstanding, and had already been like that against Dynamo Kiev on Tuesday night. It shows he is a fighter."
The_Real_Sydney : "...John Terry would definalty leave Chelsea for City. If the money is good enough thats enough for a man like Terry. Terry 'loves' Chelsea. The thing is when negotiating a new deal he draws up the contract. I seem to rememb..." view full comment
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Your Comments
siralexsoldier (Manchester United fan)
"respect to fabregas, compare his comments surrounding the victory to adebayors and u wil c why he is going to be the best central midfield player in the world one day.... like scholes and davids were bak in their day.... he is immense! deserves 2 b ranked alongside gerrard, lamps n scholes. hes probably 1 of the only few hu wud get into the utd side! as long uve gt him, uve gt a chance of winnin the prem. gna b a gud title race! all the mre nw that chelsea lost n liverpool dropped pts."
slash040386 (Arsenal fan)
"a chelsea training session he says. tell me do you normally only have one shot on target at your training sessions. do me a favour. let me tell you mate possession means nothing unless you do something with it. all it comes down to is that when arsenal play against other footballing teams like chelsea and united, arsenal are better and i don't think any football pundit would disagree. "
CapeTownGooner (Arsenal fan)
"Yip!! Very mature and humble head on those young shoulders. Lets hope he stays around for a few years to come. Still think we desparately need to find a central midfield partner for Cesc. His partnership with Flamini was excellent is is being sorely missed this season. I believe we need a similar player to Flamini, to sit in midfield and add some bite. Someone who can boss the area and protect the defense. I keep reading names of foreign players, but think that a guy who knows the EPL like Scott Parker would be ideal because of his no nonsense style and his passing ability. He would free up Cesc, Samir and Walcott (when he's back). The Hammers have financial problems, so the price shouldnt be too bad, and he can play in the champions league and as an added bonus he's English. I'd like to hear what you Gooners think about Parker."
silasyaz (Arsenal fan)
"Gallas need to stay, he is the man of the game still and can do better as far as i can see. gunners are gonners so
Faith and respect...arsenal fan..Namibia"
garyjhooti (Chelsea fan)
"this was worse than last seasons bansley match and this seasons burnley match! arsenal fans who watched the game must b happy they won another 1 sided encounter after the man utd 1 but also much b disapointed as they won cos of a ridiculous decision!!! it was a chelsea training session up until they scored that 5 yard offside goal!!!"
didnotseeit (Arsenal fan)
"Fabregas has earned and merited all of the plaudits over the last couple of games and its nice to see that the team are aware that a result against Chelsea means nothing if we can't build on it, if we can't beat the likes of Wigan at the weekend but manage to to turn over the United's and Chelsea's then we are no better than Bolton of a few years back. Wigan will come to the Emirates knowing that we have struggled after putting in a good performance and that will make us nervous, fortunately though they will also have being turned over by our kids in the back of their minds, a win over the weekend is just as important as the wins over United and Chelsea, win that and stay unbeaten over Christmas and Wenger will surely know that a couple of well placed signings in January will make us very hard to stop on all fronts this year."
faroeislander (Manchester United fan)
"He even speaks like a true fighter. I never liked Arsenal thatīs for sure, but Cesc.. Itīs kind of irretating, I simply canīt find one thing about him to dislike!! He could sure learn some of our players (and the other Arsenal players) something about real life. Such class act, no hype about himself and so down to earth. Every day we see players only half of his calibre act out like they own the world. Top notch guy!"
ciaran2054 (Arsenal fan)
"Gallas would have told us that we were on course to win the league after that game. Cesc is a natural leader, level headed, and gifted footballer. I hope he gets to life at least one trophy for us before he sadly but rightfully moves on..."
bigbowski (Arsenal fan)
"2 points on the captain situation, I think Cesc has done a fab job so far, a very mature head on those shoulders which are proved in both performances and in his quotes, Well done Cesc. Also, I am not the greatest fan of Gallas, like so many, but I think the way he has reacted to the past 2 weeks has been very commendable as it is this attitude that can be seen as team player. That's all we wanted from him, to be in it for the team. Well done to both of you guys"
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