Wenger facing Fabregas poser

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has not yet decided whether to gamble on captain Cesc Fabregas for Tuesday's Champions League Group H clash against Shakhtar Donetsk at Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners skipper has not featured since September 18 after suffering a hamstring problem when scoring at Sunderland as the ball was kicked against his leg before ballooning over the keeper.

"Cesc has prepared well. He had a little setback, but got over the hurdle and is ready to play at full fitness, but whether I start him or not, I do not know yet," Wenger said.

"It will be whether I take a gamble or not, because he has been out for a long time. But physically he is ready and fit - and wanting to play."

Wenger continued: "You know his influence on our team, he is our leader, our passer, he has a good level of assists and a good goalscoring record. Ideally you want him in the team."

Shakhtar are yet to concede a goal in Europe and domestically have recorded 15 wins out of 17 games. Like Arsenal the Ukrainians have taken maximum points from their opening Champions League games and Wenger is certainly not taking their challenge lightly.

"In this group until now you had 12 points at stake - six went to Shakhtar, six went to Arsenal. That means what is at stake is the qualifying and also the top of the group, which is why it is a very important game," he said.

"It is a key game because it gives us an opportunity to basically think we have qualified."

Wenger added: "Shakhtar are on a good winning run, they are dominating their league, they have just won 3-0 at Braga.

"We are on our toes. We know that only a great performance tomorrow will win us the game."