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By Sportsmail Reporter Last updated at 5:49 PM on 2nd February 2011

Arsenal midfielder Jack Wilshere has leaped to the defence of his under-fire skipper Cesc Fabregas, claiming he is a great captain and a role model for the younger players at the club.

The Spaniard has been criticised over his conduct by opponents in the Gunners' two most recent games against Everton and Huddersfield.

But after a radio show brought the 23-year-old's captaincy into question, Wilshere backed Fabregas' role at the club.

He said on Twitter: 'Listening to talkSPORT and they questioning Cesc's captaincy, he is a brilliant leader and protects his team mates always,very passionate guy.'

Followed later by: 'Adrian and Darren, love the show but just to let you know Cesc is a great captain and helps me a lot. A great role model for all young players!'

Toffees boss David Moyes said Fabregas deserved to be sent off after a rant at the referee and the fourth official in Arsenal's 2-1 win on Tuesday.

While Terriers defender Anthony Pilikington accused the midfielder of a four-letter rant at two of his team mates who wanted his shirt as a souvenir on Sunday.

Despite Moyes' accusations, the FA will take no further action after the referee for the Premier League clash Lee Mason did not include the supposed incident at half-time in his match report.

Labels: Arsenalaposs, captaincy, Daily, defends, Fabregas, Wilshere

Arsène Wenger has said Arsenal can make history this season by completing a clean sweep of major trophies, lifting the Premier League, the Champions League, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup.

It has been more than five years since Wenger last delivered silverware – the 2005 FA Cup – but he is convinced that this season Arsenal could mark the end of that trophy famine with an unprecedented feast. "I believe we can go to the end of every competition," Wenger said. "But we can also stop very quickly. It's just down to how much we believe and how much commitment we show."

Wenger's confidence is fuelled by the fact that several of the obstacles that have undermined previous campaigns appear to have been overcome this season. First, with the Belgian centre-back Thomas Vermaelen the only major enforced absence, Arsenal are approaching the business end of the season with almost all of their key players available. Second, Wenger believes his team have matured and shed the mental frailties that cost them in the past – he identified the midweek win over Barcelona and December's 3-1 Premier League home victory over Chelsea as crucial milestones in his team's development.

Third, the manager's own strategy has changed. Wenger has tended to neglect the domestic cup competitions in order to concentrate on the Premier League and the Champions League but this season he has fielded strong teams both in the Carling Cup and in the FA Cup, seemingly reckoning that progressing in those tournaments would boost morale and momentum.

At the end of this month that approach will be vindicated if Arsenal terminate their trophy wait by beating Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final. Emphasising how much his approach has altered Wenger also indicated that rather than drain his players, playing in every competition helps keep his squad buoyant, since the pile-up of matches means no squad member is left on the sidelines for too long.

"What I am convinced of is that we have the hunger, we have some talent and we are all committed to going as far as we can," Wenger said.

"Our destiny will be made by how much we can get focus every time, how much we can mobilise our resources in every single game, how much the whole squad is concerned by what is going on. So for us the intelligent attitude and behaviour is to just worry about the next game. My job is to get the team as far as it can and we do not choose to drop any competition. That would be silly."

That is perhaps bad news for Leyton Orient, who host Arsenal in the last 16 of the FA Cup on Sunday. If Orient's manager, Russell Slade, is hoping the opposition would arrive at Brisbane Road with their heads still in the clouds after Wednesday's win over Barcelona, he is likely to be disappointed to hear that Wenger spent Friday studying a DVD of Orient's recent 3-2 victory over MK Dons and poring over scouting reports that, according to Wenger, identified left-back Charlie Daniels and striker Alex Revell as the League One team's most dangerous players.

"Between now and the end of the season we have to become stronger in every single game – that is where our destiny lies," Wenger said. "The media give more importance to some games than others but we have to take our distance from that and be capable of switching from one competition to the other with exactly the same commitment. We must show we can deal with that. I think we can gain more respect from everybody if we turn up on Sunday with absolutely full commitment and then people will say: 'Oh, maybe this team really is ready to have a real go and not just choose their competitions or games.'"

Labels: advance, Arsenalaposs, Arsne, fronts, Guardian, plots, Wenger

England manager Fabio Capello has named Jack Wilshere as a key player and important team member for the future of English football.

The Italian spoke highly of the 19-year-old and discussed his various different playing positions, also revealing that he spoke with the Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger to decide where Wilshere would be most effectively deploye.

64-year-old Capello claims that Wilshere will play like Claude Makelele did for Chelsea, and that his role will be vital for the team’s future as the gaffer looks to replace the defensive midfield role.

"One of the players who has only played a short time with us, Wilshere, will be really important for the future,” said Capello to the FA’s official website.

"He is a really young player but he is really important for me, because he can play a position on the pitch where I am looking for some players to play there. 

"I hope he can be like Makelele in the future, now he prefers to play forward, but I monitored him in one game where he played in this position [in front of the back four] and he played very well. I spoke with Arsene and he told me he is better when he is going forward, but he told me also he can play in this position." 

The England manager made known his joy for the return of Wayne Rooney’s goal-scoring form, claiming that his is one of the best players in the world and that he had a decent game against Aston Villa.

"He is one of the best players in the world. He played very well [against Aston Villa] and scored two goals, but he played well before that. 

"I saw him play some good games and he was important in making assists for Berbatov, but he was not lucky sometimes when he tried to score himself. His first goal against Aston Villa was really, really nice for the control of the ball and to shoot at goal, his movement was very good as well. 

"I met Sir Alex on Thursday when he received an award for 2,000 games as a manager, and he told me that Rooney played well every time and was really important. He has some ankle problems but he told me he is fit, not completely, but he told me he is back." 

The Italian was also full of praise for Manchester United’s Gary Neville, who recently retired from domestic football following a 19-year spell at the club.

"He is one of the most important English players. He played a lot of games with the national team, he won a lot of trophies with Manchester United. He is a really important player in the history of football. 

"When a player like him decides to retire, you understand it's the moment to stop this career and start a new one as a coach, as a manager, as a commentator, I don't know which." 

The January transfer window included various record breaking deals, which greatly interested the England manager – who revealed his views on Torres, Dzeko, Chelsea, Manchester United and the title race.

"I followed the events it was really interesting for me because I remember last year the window was not a lot of money spent, £20-30m, but this one there was more than £200m spent. 

"It was really interesting that a lot of teams bought forwards, big changes between teams in England, Bent, Carroll, Torres and also Dzeko came in from Germany to Man City. 

"It will be more interesting to see the rest of the season and who arrives at the top four positions. 

"I don't like to speak about the money that teams spend, I like to speak about the technical quality of the players. In Torres the whole world knows the value of this player, he is good in every moment, his movement, his speed, he scores goals. 

"For Chelsea to win the Premier League I think in this moment they need Manchester United to lose some games, not only the two games that Chelsea have to play against them.

"There are other teams, Arsenal have a better fixture calendar than Chelsea or Man Utd, Man City is in a good position and Tottenham is a really good team and if Gareth Bale is back quickly they will be an important team to fight to win the Premier League.

Labels: Arsenalaposs, believes, Capello, England, Fabio, Goalcom, manager, Wilshere