Talisman to go on charm offensive

Premiership Profile: Patrick Vieira will seek today to put behind him a summer of soul searching - the Arsenal captain's most recent past suggesting his soul is perhaps troubled. His latest flirtation with Real Madrid was ended only hours before the expiry of the deadline set by Arsene Wenger for Vieira to quit or commit to Arsenal.

A thigh injury that wiped out his pre-season preparations also prevented him from taking part in Arsenal's successful trip to Norwich last month, leaving him "frustrated", his manager revealed yesterday.

Vieira's dismissal while captaining France in a World Cup qualifier against the Faroe Isles on Wednesday, the 10th of his career, could point to a resurgence of his well-documented disciplinary problems. Moreover, the backdrop to Vieira's latest dismissal - notably, though, his first outside the Premiership - is one of disruption.

Wenger spoke for the first time yesterday about Vieira's likely return and, after another summer in which the Arsenal captain dominated the headlines, the manager's comments appear to be a call for humility.

"I don't think there's any scepticism from the fans, but I'm not in the majority of people," said Wenger. "From the noises I've got from the stands it doesn't seem to me he's lost any attachment there.

"But he knows his commitment will be tested. When you're a player there's only one way to get things right - on the pitch. He's experienced enough to know that. He's focused: he worked very hard, maybe harder than ever, to come back to full fitness.

"The only advice I can give him is to be like he always was; he just needs to play his natural game. I must say something for Patrick, I've never seen him being half-committed."

Others who know Vieira well believe it is just such commitment that persuaded him to reject Real rather than any failure at the Bernabeu to prove themselves to him. Pierre Menes, L'Equipe's respected Highbury correspondent, who is often Vieira's confidant, insists it takes a strong man, with a strong attachment to Arsenal and their fans, to be able to snub the world's biggest club.

"Not many people say no to Real Madrid; even Michael Owen went there when he knew he'd be going as a substitute," said Menes. "\ chose Arsenal. That's it, there was no more intrigue about it than that.

"When you look at the relationship he has with the club it's difficult to leave that behind. He thought long and hard about leaving Arsenal because, when Real Madrid come calling, you've got to think about it."

Arsenal's fans might be forgiven for thinking Vieira's presence has hardly been missed. The potential benefit of receiving more than £25 million for an increasingly injury-prone 28-year-old did not go unnoticed by the club's managing director Keith Edelman. Such thinking has certainly been reinforced by the arrival on the Highbury scene of Cesc Fabregas.

So precocious has the 17-year-old proved that Wenger felt content to pick him ahead of Vieira for the trip to Carrow Road. Though Vieira was anxious to play, Wenger was able to wait on a scan on his thigh injury before pushing him into action - an act that had the added benefit of underlining his authority over the captain.

It could be taken as a sign that those fans who have now attributed a chant to the tune of Volare, once Vieira's sole preserve, to Highbury's new midfield tyro are doing so to indicate their love for the captain is no longer unconditional.

Yet Wenger insists that to believe Arsenal have a ready-made replacement in the young Spain international would be folly.

"I think Cesc is a normal player for the team," said Wenger. "But I have to consider his age, because giving him 35 games in the Premier League would be destroying him. When I feel he is physically ready to play, I will consider him like anybody in the side."

Even with Arsenal averaging four goals per game this season in their inexorable rise to the top of the Premiership, Vieira would still be Wenger's first choice.

"We were unbeaten last year with Patrick in the squad and in the side," he said. "I have absolutely no doubt that (if he had transferred to Madrid), in the longer term we'd have paid for it."

That conviction is shared by the Highbury faithful. While there was dismay at the lack of a declaration of Vieira's attachment to Arsenal in what was a long summer for their fans, one period of disruption is not enough to erase memories of his contribution since his debut in September 1996.

"Most Arsenal fans understand he's put in eight fantastic years at Arsenal," said Paul Matz, the secretary of the Arsenal Independent Supporters' Association. "If he puts in three more years, you won't get a word against him. He has been crucial to putting Arsenal among the top 10 clubs in Europe."

That status, too, was crucial in Vieira's decision to remain in England. Yet above all there remains a bond between Wenger and his captain that Vieira found too hard to break, one that Wenger proved when putting the sending-off with France into the appropriate perspective yesterday with typically easy charm.

"He got a second yellow card and it was maybe harsh," said Wenger. "But it meant he played just 53 minutes. I jumped out of my seat shouting, 'Give him a second yellow'."