Arsene Wenger is confident Arsenal skipper Cesc Fabregas will be ready to line up against his former club Barcelona in Thursday's Champions League quarterfinal first leg at the Emirates.

The free-scoring midfielder suffered a knee injury in the 1-1 draw at Birmingham Sunday but has not suffered any major damage, much to the relief of Wenger, who knows Fabregas's ability to make and take goals is crucial to the Gunners hope of avenging their 2006 final defeat by the Catalans.

Fabregas, 22, has scored 18 goals in all competitions this season and three more will see him equal his combined tally for past three campaigns.

The hugely improved return, Wenger believes, is down to the work Fabregas has done on his strength, allied to greater maturity in his decision making when goalscoring opportunities arise.

"I believe he is more relaxed," said Wenger. "There is less tension in his finishing. You feel that before he wanted to force the chance and now he is more relaxed."

"Also he has gained more physical power. You can see he resists much more the runs of his opponents and he is more powerful in his runs. These two ingredients make a big difference."

"Also I believe the change in formation has had an impact as well. He has more freedom to join in now."

It was Fabregas's passing that first caught Wenger's eye when he watched the midfielder playing for Spain's under-17 team at the youth World Cup in Finland in 2003.

Twelve days after Spain lost in the final to Brazil, Fabregas was an Arsenal player.

"I couldn't go to watch a youth team game at Barcelona because they would not have welcomed me," Wenger recalled. "So I could only watch him in the Under-17 national team.

"You could see straight away that his vision of the game was exceptional. He was physically a little bit weak at the time but he could score goals."

"I do not know if there were other teams in for him. We were just first and players want to join us because they feel they have a chance to play. Many young players want to join us because of that."