Fabregas wants Arsenal to toughen up

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas admits his young team-mates will have to show more maturity if they want to end the club’s five-year wait for a major trophy.

The Gunners are still in the Premier League title race after beating Liverpool 1-0 on Wednesday, but that result was preceded by dispiriting defeats against Manchester United and Chelsea which exposed Arsenal’s lack of killer instinct.

Arsene Wenger’s side, who trail leaders Chelsea by six points, dominated possession for long periods in both those losses without ever looking like delivering a knockout blow to their opponents.

That failing was put down to a lack of experience by Wenger but Fabregas, 22, believes it is time for Arsenal’s youngsters to grow up.

“As a team, we need to be stronger,” Fabregas said. “We can’t hide behind people saying we are too young or we have injuries. We just have to compete.

“People say you must learn from your mistakes, but you learn how to play football when you are 12, 13, 14, 15. You don’t learn these things when you are 25.

“Of course, you can still improve, always improve, but the basics must be there.

“If you play for Arsenal, it is because you have to have these attributes. That is why I do not believe age is an excuse.”

Compared to United and Chelsea, Fabregas’s team have a favourable run-in with no more fixtures against ‘big four’ rivals.

But the Spain midfielder knows they will still face several intensely pressurised matches if the title race goes down to the wire and he concedes that the Gunners need to learn the art of winning when the stakes are highest.

“In the past few years, we have been doing very well, but whenever it comes to important moments, maybe we haven’t been up where we need to be,” he added.

“We have always tried to play our football, but the goals we have conceded lately have come from defensive mistakes.

“We can keep playing the same style of football, but it is the mentality that will determine whether you win trophies or not. We need an extra edge in these big games.

“We want to do well and get better and better, that is for sure. But, remember, these are teams that have won things recently and, in terms of winning trophies, are more advanced than we are.”