Vermaelen hails fantastic Fabregas

Fabregas was on the Emirates Stadium pitch for 28 minutes on Sunday as a substitute after recovering from a hamstring injury and he scored twice before being replaced by Aaron Ramsey.Vermaelen said of Fabregas: "He was great. He had an injury and he did everything to make this game. He's a fantastic player."We didn't create as many chances and when he came on he gave us more opportunities to score," Vermaelen added after the Premier League match on Sky Sports 1.Fabregas put Arsenal ahead with a free-kick after 65 minutes which he curled over the wall and out of the reach of Brad Friedel.The Spaniard settled the contest with 10 minutes to go when he finished off a Gunners breakaway as he slotted the ball past Friedel after Theo Walcott had set him up from Armand Traore's long ball.But the midfielder was withdrawn with six minutes left after appearing to pick up an injury as he scored his second goal.Abou Diaby wrapped it up in injury-time when he ran at the Villa defence and curled a shot low into the corner from the edge of the area.Vermaelen felt Arsenal deserved to win after being held by Villa in an even first half.He said: "We had a good game and I think we deserved to win. It's a good result for us."Aston Villa became tired in the second half and you see the result. We defended well today as a team."Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger revealed Fabregas had a recurrence of his hamstring injury.He added on Sky Sports: "It's a recurrence of his hamstring. We knew before the game it was not perfect."We will see if we have long regrets or short regrets. I don't believe it's too bad, he doesn't think it's too bad."Wenger is hoping the injury is not too serious, with a scar on the injured tissue the best prognosis rather than a new pull to the hamstring.He said: "If it's a pull again, it's three weeks (out) so we hope it is only a scar."Wenger admitted he could not say whether the Gunners would have won without Fabregas."That's very difficult to predict. I believe we were dominant. I believe in the last 20 minutes we could have made the difference (to win the game)."Wenger revealed he was considering signing a striker in the January transfer window because of Robin van Persie's ankle injury.He said: "We are in the market with our eyes open. We are a bit short as we planned to play with Robin the whole season."

Source: Team_Talk