Fabregas tired of title talk

Fabregas was angry with the referee (GETTY IMAGES)

Cesc Fabregas is fed up with having to field questions on Arsenal title credentials - win or lose - and maintains the only answer which matters will come at the end of the season.

The Gunners moved back up into second place in the Barclays Premier League following yesterday's 3-0 win over 10-man Manchester City at Eastlands.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger feels the result - which sees Arsenal five points behind leaders Chelsea - will lift confidence within his squad, which had faced questions of their title credentials after successive defeats before the international break.

Wenger also talked about the team's growing maturity, patience and intelligence as the Gunners made the most of Dedryck Boyata's early dismissal with goals from Samir Nasri, Alex Song and substitute Nicolas Bendtner, even affording a penalty miss by captain Fabregas.

The World Cup winner, though, has heard it all before - and insists May will be the only time to judge.

"It looks like after every win you have to say 'oh, you are more mature than last year', but it is just one more game, let's not get carried away," Fabregas told Arsenal TV Online.

"Now we have the [Carling Cup] game against Newcastle, which is the most important one at the moment.

"The time to talk about if we have matured or are better than before will be at the end of the season.

"In football, you know what people will say when you win, and you know what people will say when you lose.

"You just have to keep focused on what you do, in training and in the game, give everything for the team and the rest is not up to you.

"We have a very good team, with lots of young players. We have to make it a great time by winning things."

Events at Eastlands could have been so different, however, had stand-in goalkeeper Lukasz Fabianski not made a fine reaction save from David Silva's close-range flick in the opening few minutes, before the dynamic of the match was altered when last-man Boyata saw red for bringing down Marouane Chamakh.

Poland shot-stopper Fabianski, who has grown in stature in his latest spell deputising for the injured Manuel Almunia, feels Arsenal have taken their clinical European form which has seen them chalk up 14 goals from three Champions League games back into domestic action.

"We are more ruthless now. We are creating chances in every single game and it's not just about making them, it's about taking them," Fabianski said.

"That's what we have to work on and keep like this.

"Everyone knows we are playing well, passing the ball really well and creating chances. We just have to score more goals."

Fabianski, quoted in the London Evening Standard, added: "Now we are second and in touch with Chelsea.

"Within the team, there was always big belief, but it was still important to win a major game like this.

"City were trying to add a physical aspect to their game but we stayed calm, managed to stick to our tactics, played our game and it paid off."

Arsenal now head to Newcastle for Wednesday night's Carling Cup fourth-round clash.

Wenger had named a strong squad for the win at Tottenham in the previous round, and is expected to again as the Gunners boss targets a first trophy success since 2005.

Bendtner and fit-again Theo Walcott could be included at St James' Park, while centre-half Laurent Koscielny was an unused substitute against City as he continues to recover from a back problem.

While youngsters Henri Lansbury, who scored his first senior goal at White Hart Lane, and Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, a reported loan target for npower Championship leaders QPR, could make the squad for the trip to Tyneside, 21-year-old midfielder Mark Randall has headed to Rotherham on a three-month loan deal.

Fabregas, meanwhile, tonight moved to clarify headlines generated from his post-match comments on Sky television, when he stated: "Even if they were 15 and we were 11, we would still go and win."

In a post on his official Twitter account, the Arsenal captain wrote: "Once again you see that people read things and understand things the way that will work better for them....

"I never said we would beat City with 15 men, I said that even if they were 15 players, we'd have to still try to go for the victory as usual."