Cesc Fabregas rediscovers his touch of class as Chelsea win at Arsenal

IT WAS a total injustice, but Cesc Fabregas was experienced enough to know that this was not the time nor, indeed, the place for vigorous protest.

 

Fabregas had the last laugh at his former club Arsenal as Chelsea won 1-0

 

When Laurent Koscielny, with a clumsy rush of blood, clattered into the Chelsea midfielder in the 56th minute, it is hard to understand why referee Mark Clattenburg did not point immediately to the spot and effectively end the contest there.

It would have been no more than the visitors deserved but as Fabregas picked himself up, his head cocked inquisitively towards the assistant referee, a rueful smile was about as much reprobation the officials were given.

To do more would be futile - the decision was not going to be changed, and why give the Arsenal fans something on which to focus their ire when they were busily moaning about the inadequacies of their defence and impotency of their attack?

 

From the first whistle, Fabregas' every touch had been booed, although that became increasingly half-hearted on an afternoon when everything about Arsenal seemed to peter out with a whimper.

It has not been a good season for the Spain international, but back on familiar turf he seemed to rediscover the fresh-faced master craftsman beneath the bushy black beard.

Every turn was away from trouble and each pass put Arsenal on the back foot, providing a driving force in the centre of midfield that Arsenal have missed regularly ever since they finally sold their former captain and talisman to Barcelona in 2011.

 

Fabregas was excellent for Chelsea at the Emirates

 

Statistically, he won more tackles in this game than in any other this season and as Arsenal got more desperate as the famous clock ticked down he had the less tangible wit to draw fouls and slow down play even further.

A couple of shots from distance were never going to trouble Petr Cech but at least declared an interest and when his legs stopped carrying him from box to box he invariably found a space to offer an outlet and some respite to the defenders behind him.

That process was helped by Chelsea's extra man but in the past it took more than a red card or two to stop Arsenal - after all, Arsene Wenger "didn't see" enough of those in his early years in charge.

 

But these days there is nobody to fill the breach. Instead of turning back the clock, Mathieu Flamini fluffed his big chance just before the break. And Mesut Ozil, clearly still not 100 per cent fit, was used for the most part as some sort of ineffectual spearhead of Arsenal's attacking endeavours which all but took him out of the game.

The Germany international was one of the first Arsenal players off down the tunnel at the final whistle with barely a nod to the supporters. Despite his reception, Fabregas manfully acknowledged the Arsenal fans as well as his own.

He thumped his chest as he left the pitch to try to convey to the home following that he still has a place for them in his heart; his sentiment was met with a barrage of embarrassing V-signs.

When that is a finger for each of the points you have picked up out of a possible nine, that is a very empty gesture indeed.