Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger hopes Cesc Fabregas can maintain the hunger to maintain his team at the top of the table.

"I hope that he does not carry too much responsibility and continues to want to improve and be the best," Wenger said. "The rest will come, as he has immense talent. If he keeps the same desire to progress, it will come by itself.

"We lost a great player [Thierry Henry, who left for Barcelona in the summer], so on an individual level we miss something, but we will try and compensate using our initiative and sharing responsibility at the heart of the side. That was sometimes too concentrated on one player from an attacking point of view. I hope that the loss will be compensated by the dividing up of these tasks."