Fabregas: Facing Arsenal is hard, but I want to win the Double

Cesc Fabregas admits he will find it hard to face former club Arsenal in the FA Cup Final later this month, but is determined to win the Double with Chelsea.

Fabregas spent eight years with the Gunners between 2003-11 and was their captain from November 2008.

The midfielder angered many Arsenal fans by joining London rivals Chelsea from Barcelona three years ago – even though the north London club decided not to trigger an option to buy him back beforehand.

Fabregas has no ill feeling towards Arsenal but warns he won’t look to do them any favours when Chelsea play them at Wembley on May 27.

He said: “It will be emotional. It’s not as if I like to play against Arsenal because they are a club which is in my heart and they always will be.

“I have to put those feelings aside. You have to be professional. Of course, it means a lot to me, it’s not an ordinary game for me.

“But this is football and this is what we have to do, it can happen and hopefully we can win the Double. That would be a fantastic season for Chelsea and for us.

“It would be fantastic for the players, for the manager (Antonio Conte), to do it in the first season after the problems we faced.

“We started with a system, then we changed, it started well, then it didn’t go well. Then we had to adapt to another kind of system with 5-4-1, 3-4-3, it depends on the time of the game.

“We have worked hard, we’ve worked hard to improve, but I still think we can do better and so hopefully by the end of the season we will prepare well for the FA Cup final and rest well for next season.”

Arsenal are finishing the campaign strongly with the Final approaching. They have won six of their last seven matches in all competitions.

Fabregas added: “It will be a tough game. I watch Arsenal, they are playing well, they are playing a different system and maybe they are not performing fantastic in this system.

“But they are defensively better. They are winning and that’s important for them. Their belief is higher. But our belief is high, hopefully, we can hurt them in the way we want.”