(eca039): Fabregas warns against complacency inPortugal (News Feature)

By Jonathan Wilson Nov 22, 2010, 7:58 GMT

London - When they met at the Emirates Stadium at the beginning of September, Arsenal beat Sporting Braga 6-0, but Cesc Fabregas is aware they will be a much tougher prospect in Portugal on Tuesday.

A draw would secure Arsenal's progress to the last 16 of the European Champions League, and even with a defeat Arsenal would secure qualification by beating Partizan, the weakest side in Group H, at home in their final fixture next month.

But the Spain midfielder Fabregas has warned his side against complacency.

'We have two games left in the group, both difficult, especially the one away to Braga - but we will try to win the group,' he said.

'We will do our best and if we play the football we know, focus 100 per cent and don't treat the opponents softly, then I am sure we can win the group.'

Arsenal defeated Shakhtar Donetsk 5-0 at the Emirates, only to lose the second meeting 2-1 in Ukraine, and Fabregas is conscious Arsenal made mistakes on that occasion.

'Playing in their own stadium, in front of their own fans, we knew Shakhtar would be a different team to the one we faced at the Emirates last month, and to be fair to them, I thought they played well,' he said.

'But it was down to us, it was our fault, we let them back into the game. We had to retain possession better and control the game, but we didn't and in the end, we paid for that.

'The manager said the same after the game - once we were ahead, we took the game too easily. We had just scored five against them, we are top of the group and maybe we were thinking that a draw would be a good result.

'But in football, you can never be complacent, you can never switch off, otherwise you will pay for it, whoever you play against.'

Arsenal found that to their cost on Saturday, as they threw away a 2-0 lead against local rivals Tottenham Hotspur to lose 3-2.

Manager Arsene Wenger was highly critical of his team's concentration in that game.

Letting leads slip, though, has become a worrying trend. Shakhtar aside, they did so this season against Sunderland.

That was significant not because they ended up drawing against a side that has lost only twice in the league this season but because they did so having controlled the game before panicking in injury-time.

Following the 2-2 draw with West Ham last season, when they had been 2-0 up after 74 minutes, and the 3-2 capitulation against Wigan Athletic from 2-0 a year ago, Saturday's set-back against Spurs feels like part of a trend of mental weakness that must be tackled.

'We lack some basic concentration on facts in the game where you can be punished,' Wenger said. 'When you want to win, that cannot happen.'

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