Fabregas eager to do something he couldn’t do at Arsenal: win a Premier League title
Cesc Fabregas has issued a pointed reminder to Arsenal of the reason why he chose to return to England with Chelsea as the Blues close in on his first Premier League title. The Spain playmaker made more than 300 appearances … Continue reading →

Cesc Fabregas has issued a pointed reminder to Arsenal of the reason why he chose to return to England with Chelsea as the Blues close in on his first Premier League title.

The Spain playmaker made more than 300 appearances for the Gunners in an eight-year spell before leaving for Barcelona with one FA Cup winners' medal to his name after a number of near misses, including in the 2004-2005 Premier League season and 2006 Champions League final.

Arsenal, who host Chelsea on Sunday when victory for the visitors would all-but assure them of the title, had an option to buy-back Fabregas.

It was not taken up and the 27-year-old, who joined the Gunners as a teenager and went on to captain the club, moved to Stamford Bridge in search of one of the few honors to elude him.

“We just want to win it (the Premier League). The sooner, the better,” World Cup and European Championships winner Fabregas said on chelseafc.com.

“We want to give satisfaction to the supporters. It's been five years for them without winning the Premier League title; for me it's been 27 years so I'd love to win it as soon as possible.”

Chelsea won the title in 2005 and 2006 – Jose Mourinho's first two seasons in charge – and in 2010 under Carlo Ancelotti.

The Blues are 10 points clear of Arsenal, who last Saturday reached the FA Cup final for a second successive season.

Gunners boss Arsene Wenger, who ended his nine-year trophy drought last term, is still to taste victory over a Chelsea side managed by Mourinho after 12 attempts.

A third Premier League title and first of his second spell would see Mourinho equal Wenger's haul of English championships.

To have any chance of a Premier League win, the Gunners must beat Chelsea, who, with three points at the Emirates Stadium, would require just three more to be champions.

That could happen as soon as the following Wednesday (April 29) at Leicester.

Fabregas said: “It's massive. We are level on games now, we are 10 points in front and we don't want to give them hope to put pressure on us.

“We have to put in a good performance because we know the Emirates is always a difficult place to go.”

Last Saturday's 1-0 victory over Manchester United saw Fabregas pushed further forwards to accommodate Kurt Zouma, who did a man-marking job on Marouane Fellaini, nullifying the threat of the Belgian.

“If I played there normally I would struggle a bit more to deal with long balls and the physical aspect of the game,” Fabregas added.

“We had to put someone on Fellaini, especially for the long balls, so yes our style changed. I thought Zouma did extremely well.

“I think his future is as a centre-back but he can do the job very well in central midfield when it's needed. He's a top, top boy. He wants to learn, he wants to play.

“That's why Mourinho is who he is and has won what he has won. The plan worked very well.”