Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger says winning the 2005 FA Cup final was the moment when he chose to stop buying big.

It was after Patrick Vieira's penalty kick saw off Manchester United in the 2005 FA Cup final that Wenger put the Arsenal chequebook into cold storage.

The Frenchman has used it sparingly since then, refusing to buy a ready-made replacement for Inter Milan-bound Vieira who left that summer, and instead relying on the talents of Cesc Fabregas.

Wenger told Arsenal's Official Magazine: "Basically it was the last year of Patrick Vieira and his very last kick for the club won us the [FA Cup] in the penalty shoot-out.

"That was the time when we started to see the end of the Vieira era and the beginning of the Fabregas one. That was part of the reason that I let Patrick go. We had to make way for the youngsters and that period was when we made the change to go for a younger and less experienced team.

"There was a definite moment when I sat down and decided to build our team around young players. I went with youth because I knew we would have less resources available."