Highbury's young guns bring vindication for Wenger

It started at the feet of Patrick Vieira and finished at those of Cesc Fàbregas: 1-0 to the Arsenal. Had Arsène Wenger marched on to the Highbury turf with a giant flipchart and a marker pen he could not have offered a better illustration of why, last summer, to the consternation of many in football, he decided to sell one to make room for the other. After that one passage of play alone he would have been entitled to say, "Here's one I made earlier."

In the radically differing shapes of Vieira and Fàbregas, Arsenal's past and future collided in the present and it was in Fàbregas's 40th-minute goal that vindication belonged to Wenger. Throughout a fascinating game the Spaniard skipped his way around the pitch like a teenager. He is 18. Eighteen.

Vieira, by contrast, was pedestrian and sometimes more than that, a spectator. Not all night by any means, but for too much of it for the eyes of Fabio Capello. But worst of all for Vieira and the Juventus manager, the Frenchman was also booked and will not feature in the return.

This night was meant to be all about Vieira's return. Capello shelled out almost €20 million for Vieira but as Wenger could have told him, that buys an awful lot in, for example, west Africa. Seven or eight Emmanuel Eboués, or a scouting network that digs up names like Fàbregas and Nicolas Anelka before him.

It has given Wenger professorial status in north London but although there were familiar cries of "Arsène knows" from the faithful when Vieira was sold, as Chelsea escaped at the top of the league, doubts crept in. They were demolished here by the twinkling feet of a frail young Catalan.

When the whistle blew, Fàbregas suddenly ghosted past Vieira. One minute and 26 seconds later Vieira took retribution with a little clip of the teenager's legs but the "intimidation" Wenger thought Vieira might experience soon gave way to inhibition. Beside Vieira's name on the teamsheet was an asterisk that indicated a yellow card would mean his absence from the return in Turin next Wednesday. It had to be on his mind and, it was to prove, rightly so.

Interestingly, Arsenal have not conceded a goal in the Champions League since September 27, a seven-game run stretching back to a qualifier against Ajax. As Arsenal had already lost at Middlesbrough in the Premiership by then and were about to go under at West Bromwich Albion, not much attention was paid to the keeping of clean sheets against the likes of Sparta Prague. It was during the autumn and early winter that a new critique of Arsenal and Wenger was developing: one that centred on the alleged error of judgment to sell Vieira last summer.

With Edu due to leave for Valencia, Vieira spoke of his concern before the FA Cup final about who would be staying at Highbury."What is really important is to try and keep everybody. We are losing Edu already and that's a lot. I am hopeful Dennis (Bergkamp) will stay and of course the young players like Cesc. There will always be interest in players like Cesc, that's part of the game and the club will do everything to keep them."

Vieira was not to know that he was about to kick his last ball for the club, and the fact that it was from the spot, and ensured that he lifted the FA Cup, did not seem much consolation when the news broke that Arsenal were not doing everything to keep him.

Last night shoulders slumped as Vieira watched Fabregas initiate the move then deliver the pass for Thierry Henry to make it 2-0. Vieira must have wished Arsenal had done more. But, as they say, Wenger knew.