Wenger had no choice but to give Fabregas captaincy

It makes sense on many levels. Fabregas has the charisma to be Arsenal captain and has spoken of his desire to be Arsenal captain in the past. Fabregas also remains one the few Arsenal players the fans still regard as a world class player.

When Wenger gave the captaincy  to Thierry Henry, it didn't work out too well. Like Gallas, but without quite the same consequences, Henry did not have the natural attributes to be a captain and would often do un-Captain-like things. He would frequently glower at team mates who gave him a bad pass. Neither was he an encouraging captain. In the end, the whole philosophy of being club captain went to Henry's head a bit.

Giving Henry the captaincy was the beginning of the end for Henry at Arsenal football club; it fed his ego to such an extent that Henry thought he was bigger than Wenger, bigger than everything, which is why it was time to leave.

Realistically, Wenger has little choice but to give Fabregas the captaincy, as nobody else within the squad is suitable for the role. We just have to hope this does not affect Fabregas in a negative manner.

The 21-year-old seems strong enough to cope, even if his form has dipped this season - but Wenger has to handle Fabregas carefully and not put too much pressure on him. If struggling to lead a desperately failing side - on so many levels - gets too much for Fabregas to shoulder on his own, then he won't enjoy his football and Wenger is simply edging him out the door back to Spain.

Tomorrow night Arsenal face Dynamo Kiev in the UEFA Champions League. A victory, or even a low scoring draw would probably be enough to see Arsenal through to the knockout stages.

Kiev have fared better away from home in Europe this season than they normally do, but Group G is a much weaker group than it looks on paper.

Arsenal should - we hope - be able to restore a smidgen of self-respect by beating Kiev at the Emirates, but Kiev are - as you would expect - a pretty well organised outift that will get 10 men behind the ball and try and do what virtually every team visiting the Emirates does, with increasing success, punish Arsenal on the break.

I don't expect Kiev to dominate Arsenal like Aston Villa did, or create nearly as many chances, they're not that good - but they will be empowered by Arsenal's predicament. They will feel they still have a strong chance to make it through this group, and any fears they may have previously held about facing the Gunners will have been replaced by enouragement having watched Arsenal's spectacular collapse.

Kiev's domestic form has been superb, even if a run of 10 straight league wins was halted by defeat to Shakhtar Donetsk 10 days ago.

Wenger's line-up will be interesting. It should be stronger than what we saw against Man City on Saturday, but I really haven't a clue whether Eboue, Adebayor, Sagna, Toure are fit enough to play. But at least Fabregas and Gallas will be back - although what frame of mind Gallas is in at the moment is anybody's guess. On thing's for sure, walking out on that pitch tomorrow night with all those cameras poked in his face will be humiliating for him.

If Adebayor is ruled out, I would like to see Vela start ahead of Bendtner. It's time for Wenger to put aside loyalties and drop out of form players like Bendtner, Song, and Denilson - maybe even Clichy (Gibbs couldn't do much worse).

I would prefer Ramsey started ahead of Denilson if at all possible - or maybe Diaby in a central role. Denilson has played a lot recently and is running out of puff; besides, none of them can tackle, so what's the difference?

What are we looking for from Arsenal against Kiev? A physical battle is impossible. It's clear now that asking Song, Denilson, Ramsey, Nasri, Fabregas, Diaby to fight like Robbie Savage is like asking Almunia to play up front and score 20 goals a season.

Arsenal fans were right to question these kids and expect them to raise their game - but the response has been emphatic. They're incapable, we were asking the impossible, therefore they should no longer be criticised as long as we can see they are trying - and I believe they are.

The blame has to be fully focused on Arsene Wenger now. He bought them, he fields them, he motivates them, and if they're not capable it's not through lack of effort rather than lack of ability, physical presence, confidence and mental strength.

It's very hard to know what the rest of the season will bring, whether some optimism can be prized from the jaws of disaster. Can Arsenal significantly improve from here or will they simply slump further and further?

What's clear is that confidence is vital, and any win would be helpful right now, even if - ultimately - the personnel are not there to save the season.