Cesc Fabregas won two Premier League titles with Chelsea but none with Arsenal.
Cesc Fabregas says the Chelsea teams he played in were much more ruthless and willing to win at all costs than his Arsenal sides, which made the difference between winning trophies and failing to do so. The Spaniard played for Arsenal from 2003-11 and picked up just one trophy in that time, the 2005 FA Cup, before he left for Barcelona.
He returned to the Premier League with Chelsea and in four-and-a-half seasons at Stamford Bridge, the midfielder won two Premier League titles, the FA Cup and a League Cup. It has been a wonderfully successful career for Fabregas, who has also won the World Cup and two European Cups with Spain and La Liga with Barcelona, so he knows what makes a winning team. Looking back on his time with the Gunners and the Blues, he feels it was too much style and not enough substance at Arsenal, whereas Chelsea were all about the results and it worked. ‘Some teams I played in at Arsenal and Chelsea were similar in terms of talent, but the difference I felt straightaway is that at Chelsea we were ruthless,’
Fabregas told the Telegraph. At Arsenal there were fantastic, top, top players, but at Chelsea we didn’t really care if one day we had to win 1-0 by not touching the ball for the whole match. ‘At Arsenal, and it was maybe partly my fault at some point as the leader and captain that I was, sometimes we forgot that to win leagues and Champions Leagues, you need to win ugly.
‘When I was young I always wanted to play the beautiful game, but there are always five or six games a season that you need to struggle but win. At Chelsea we did that. We were very competitive and very experienced. That’s the main difference.’
The 33-year-old, who is still looking to add to his trophy cabinet at Monaco in Ligue 1, will be watching when his two former Premier League clubs meet in the FA Cup final on Saturday at Wembley. Cesc Fabregas was a key figure at Arsenal under Arsene Wenger While falling short of tipping a winner, he believes Arsenal need the win more than Chelsea as the Gunners have ‘nothing’ at the moment. ‘Arsenal need it more,’ Fabregas continued. ‘Chelsea basically every year has won a trophy, so it’s a different animal in this case. ‘In terms of trophies, Arsenal needs it more and for confidence for next year and getting into Europe. ‘Chelsea are in the Champions League and Arsenal has nothing at the moment.
