Wednesday night was a night that may define our season in many ways. Time will tell whether Arsène’s gambles with the fitness of Fabregas and Gallas will prove inspired or disastrous.

What is certain is that the squad have to prove that we are a great team, not just a handful of great players led by Cesc. Glancing at the back of the programme before the match, I noticed a very obvious difference between the squads. The Barcelona squad is 2/3rds the size of ours, yet they seem able to ride out injuries to key players. We can do the same and still be four points better than Man U and Chelsea in the next six league matches.

Fabregas – Nasri is surely the key here. His recent creative performances have shown signs of the playmaker we expected him to become. Can he perform in the away matches, especially at City? My bet is that the maturity he has shown recently will help him make the most of Cesc’s absence. With Denilson showing against Barça that he can keep his head against top teams after all, and Song and Diaby turning into the new Vieira and Petit, we have the stable platform to let Samir shine.

Arshavin – The Anfield heroics seem a long time ago to most fans. Some say he has become selfish and dispirited – I think they are wrong, but he is certainly playing well within himself. As a result, his absence for 3 weeks probably won’t be too damaging to us. It may be a chance for Vela to get the run in the side he has deserved for a long time and we aren’t short of goals.

Gallas – This could be a bigger problem than Cesc. We’ve all enjoyed Sol’s return but against pace even his reading of the game isn’t enough and that’s why he couldn’t be risked against Pedro et al. Against Spurs and City he could get turned inside out. Silvestre has never really convinced me but he is going to be the critical factor in turning 2 points into 6 in our two biggest games.

RvP – We’ve played without our main striker since November and even during that time Bendtner was injured. We clearly haven’t struggled to score goals but there have been times that we  know that van Persie would have brought some extra skill and guile to the team. Eduardo hasn’t managed to impress so far but without Arshavin for three weeks maybe he can find his goal poaching boots. How fit will van Persie be when he returns to the squad and will he have an eye on the World Cup and be protecting himself?

All the injured players are important components of our team.  Are their deputies good enough to carry us over the line? Who will be captain? The latest news is that Denilson and Clichy also picked up injuries on Wednesday night taking the tally to five players from that game alone. Our fearless captain possibly played with an already broken leg  if reports are to be believed – who else in our team has the mental strength, the guts and the determination of Cesc Fabregas?

Nasri, Diaby, Denilson, Eduardo, Walcott, Almunia – your team needs you to be consistent, to be focussed every minute of every game from  now until the end of the season. Cesc Fabregas is just one man, but boy what a man, what a captain.

Can we patch up the side, and crawl over the finishing line without him?

By Alfa and others