The Gunners have come face-to-face with many a former hero in recent years but none will provide as much pain as seeing their old skipper pulling the strings for Chelsea

Once a Gunner always a Gunner. Whether the bond between Arsenal and Cesc
Fabregas survives Sunday’s reunion will represent an irrelevant subplot should the
Spaniard deliver a painful dose of what-might-have-been with a match-winning
performance.
Arsenal’s long-suffering fans should really be desensitised to the sight of a former
hero biting the hand that used to feed them by now, but the prospect of Fabregas
pulling the midfield strings in Chelsea blue will trigger unrivalled levels of regret and
envy, as well as raise further questions over the direction the club is heading and
those who make the key decisions.
Emmanuel Adebayor, Samir Nasri and Robin van Persie have all, in the face of
significant provocation it must be said, revelled in the role of pantomime villain,
celebrating goals and titles as a means of justifying their various defections.
Fabregas, too, is no angel. The manner in which he engineered a move back to
Barcelona highlighted certain foibles that are also apparent in the confrontational,
borderline arrogant, way in which he plays his football.
However, when Fabregas lines up for Chelsea, a sight that the player himself recently
described as unthinkable a few years ago, he will take on the role of the jilted former
lover rather than Judas, which only adds to the complex and conflicting mixture of
emotions that will come to the boil at Stamford Bridge this weekend.