Cesc Fabregas returns to the Emirates in a blue shirt this weekend and the reception is likely to be pretty frosty.

However, Arsene Wenger says the ex-Arsenal midfielder deserves respect from the fans.

Fabregas left Arsenal, the team he’d played for since he was a teenager, in 2011 for warmer pastures. However, after falling out of favour at new club Barcelona, he realised that the grass isn’t always greener and wanted to return to the Premier League.

Although the Spaniard supposedly preferred a return to the Emirates, the Gunners now had the likes of German playmaker Mesut Ozil in midfield, meaning that there simply wasn’t room in the squad for Fabregas.

Fabregas’s transfer to Chelsea hasn’t sat right with a lot of Arsenal fans and I doubt it ever will. A man who once uttered those infamous words: “Once a gunner, always a gunner,” has in fact joined the enemy.

With this in mind, ahead of Fabregas’ return to our home turf, Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has urged the fans to respect the ex-Gunner, saying,

“I want every player to be respected and [I want] Cesc Fabregas when he comes to the Emirates on Sunday to be respected like he deserves.”