Horrible sense of deja vu as Arsenal face Chelsea

Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas has issued a clarion call to his players ahead of the Gunners' crucial match against league leaders Chelsea on Sunday. After the crushing 3-1 defeat  by Manchester United, Arsenal now face the biggest game of their season to date, one that will be a fierce test of their character. Lose, and they are effectively out of the title race as they'll be as many as 11 points adrift of their London rivals.

But it's not just Arsenal's Premier League ambitions that are at stake on Sunday at Stamford Bridge: ten days later they travel to Porto in the Champions League and it's imperative they go into that match with morale intact, otherwise the 2009/10 season might well go the same way as 2006/07.

Almost exactly three years ago Arsene Wenger endured his toughest period as Arsenal boss. Defeat to Chelsea in the Carling Cup Final was followed four days later by a 1-0 reverse against Blackburn in the fifth round of the FA Cup. A week later they were dumped out of the Champions League by PSV Eindhoven. No wonder then that Fabregas, one of the few Gunners whose career has spanned the years, is desperate to avoid a repetition of February 2007.

"We have to bounce back straight away," says Fabregas. "We know we have two massive games against Chelsea away and Liverpool at home so it is going to be difficult definitely. No-one said it is going to be easy, we just have to be strong."

Carlo Ancelotti's side thrashed Arsenal 3-0 at the Emirates when the sides met at the end of November, a defeat that triggered Arsenal's unbeaten 10-match streak that lasted until Sunday. "They [Chelsea] are a strong side, they have been playing together for a long time," continued Fabregas. "They know what they do and know how to play. We have to beat them to stay in the title race."

But the Spaniard, who has scored 14 goals this season for Arsenal, says the squad mustn't dwell on the Manchester United debacle. "Chelsea were better than us [in November] and Manchester United have been better than us [on Sunday]. It is something we have to think about to make sure it doesn't happen again. In football it is so difficult to predict what is going to happen. So let's be positive and see if we can get a result there. We have to be positive. It is very easy to say we lost to Man United and let our heads go down. We have to be strong, be together more than ever and do our best until the end of the season.

"If you don't believe, you don't win things. We want to believe we are still there - I am always realistic and I am not going to lie to myself or to anyone. We know it is very difficult... but we must do our talking on the pitch."

Strong words from Fabregas, but aren't Arsenal fans entitled to wonder at the lack of progress from Wenger's squad? Three years ago, after the Chelsea defeat, the Guardian began its Carling Cup Final report with the following: "To Chelsea the trophy, to Arsenal the future. That division of spoils might have seen the victors celebrating and the young losers still feeling satisfied with themselves after a Carling Cup final that entertained and excited for 90 minutes."

But the future hasn't belonged to Arsenal. Still without a trophy since the 2005 FA Cup, the side that lost the 2007 Carling Cup Final hasn't gone on to fulfil its collective potential, despite the fact that the bulk of the side - Almunia, Diaby, Traoré, Walcott, Eboué, Fábregas and Denilson – is still at the Emirates.

Time is running out for this gifted group of players who have flattered to deceive for too long. Another barren season for Arsenal would surely leave Arsene Wenger no choice but to break up the squad that promised so much but delivered so little. ·