Fabregas shows the way as Arsenal flex new muscles. [ Friday, August 17, 2007]
In keeping with Arsenal's new-found harder edge, Cesc Fabregas did little yesterday to dispel the notion that he had exacted retribution on the Sparta Prague defender Tomas Repka during Wednesday's Champions League qualification tie.

The 20-year-old midfielder, and scorer of Arsenal's first goal, said of his challenge on the Sparta captain, that led to his withdrawal with a knee injury, that "sometimes in the game you have to do this kind of thing. Not with bad intentions, of course. I thought I could win the ball but sometimes when you cannot play because they are physically very strong, you have to go for physical game as well."

Such statements of meeting fire with fire have not been associated with Arsenal's recent history and it was clear at the Axa Arena in Prague that the Czech players felt they could, as has happened in the Premier League in the past, intimidate their opponents.

Repka, the former West Ham United defender, boasted as such before kick-off, telling Czech television that he intended to "sort out" Arsenal. That sorting out started as early as the second minute with a brutal challenge on Robin van Persie. Unfortunately for Repka, his comments had also been relayed to the Arsenal players by their team-mate, the Czech international Tomas Rosicky.

"If you play football, it's not to kick somebody, it's just because you enjoy it and you want to win for your team. It's true that I was a bit late [with the tackle]. But he did the same before," Fabregas said. "I think it's not good for football to say before the game, 'I will kick their players'." The Spaniard's handling of Repka – he also appeared to mimic the defender's limp as he hobbled off – led to him being booed incessantly by the home supporters.

Not that Fabregas was concerned. He steadied himself to score before Alexander Hleb added the second goal in a crucial 2-0 victory which, with a second leg in two weeks time, all but secured Arsenal's passage into the competition's group stages.

Their new approach, personified in the decision to hand the captaincy to a fierce campaigner like William Gallas, who was Arsenal's best performer along with Kolo Touré and Bakary Sagna, was also highlighted by the defender Gael Clichy. He said of the physical encounter: "Everybody thinks that this is the way to play against Arsenal but this year we are ready to show that we are not the same side as before," the Frenchman said. "We are waiting for the challenge and we are waiting for the teams to come. Every weekend we play against a side like this in England. This season we believe we have the football quality and the physical quality. We are ready and we are going to show we are not the same team as before."

Even so Arsenal are desperately crying out for the return of strikers Emmanuel Adebayor and Eduardo da Silva, to add firepower to their fire, while the problem of providing greater width in the team also needs to be urgently addressed by Arsène Wenger. That may require further recruits.