19 year old Cesc Fabregas can carry Arsenal through against CSKA Moscow.

Arsenal host CSKA Moscow in Group G of the Champions League tonight. It is the first of two home games for Arsenal and tonight’s result will go a long way to deciding their fate in the group.

Arsenal lost their tie on Russian soil, after Thierry Henry has a perfectly good goal disallowed by the referee.

Cesc Fabregas

Wenger wants to give 19 year old Cesc Fabregas a rest but says he’s too important to the team. Fabregas has played in all but one of Arsenal’s 14 matches this season.

“I want to protect Cesc by not playing him too much,” Wenger said. “But it’s extremely difficult at the moment, if not impossible, to leave him out.”

“First of all he wants to play and I want him to play. He’s needed and we need him to play.

“But at some stage he has to get a rest. That’s 100% true. It’s a bit like the situation I had with Robert Pires.

“I always thought I would rest Pires for the weekend. On Monday I was convinced I would rest him.

“But on Tuesday I was less convinced, on Wednesday even less so and by Thursday I wasn’t convinced at all. By Friday he was playing.”

Placing this amount of responsibility is rare in today’s game, where managers tend to be more protective of their youngsters. But to date, Fabregas has always been up to the job, most memorably when he faced ex-team mate Patrick Vieira, when Arsenal edged out Juventus in last years Champions League.

Cesc Fabregas Football Boots

Cesc Fabregas wears Nike Air Legend football boots.

Of late he has worn these football boots in the silver and blue colourway.

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