Thierry Henry has called on Arsenal to keep Cesc Fábregas at all costs. The club have been in the habit of cashing in on valuable assets in recent seasons, but Henry said any bids from Spain for the midfielder should be rebuffed. "It is vital," he said. "He's the Arsenal captain, he's young, and I am sure he wants to give something back to the club. Knowing Cesc, that's really important."

Fábregas has been heavily linked with his former club Barcelona who Henry helped win a domestic double and the Champions League last season. The former Arsenal captain feels now is not the time for Fábregas to move to Camp Nou.

Henry also believes his old club should keep setting their sights high and not simply settle for a place in the Premier League's top four. "My feeling for Arsenal is that I don't talk about being in the top four, I talk about winning the league," he said.

"That's how I saw it when I was there, and that is still how I see it. Arsenal is a big club. Other clubs do what they do, but Arsène [Wenger] has proven, and Arsenal have proved so many times, that they can win without spending a lot of money. So hopefully they can do it again. People talk about the top four – but the only thing that matters to me is to be top. And I know that's all that matters to Arsène."

His faith in Arsenal's manager is unwavering. "When I talk about Arsenal I always talk from my heart first before my head," he said. "It is going to be difficult without [Emmanuael] Adebayor, and what has happened to [Samir] Nasri [who this week suffered a broken leg], was not what Arsène was hoping for either. I just hope they can win the league and everything else they can, because I know how much Arsène wants that. I think it can happen this year."

Wenger's ideal sometimes resembles a kind of Barcelona-lite, in terms of style and in his preference for small ball players, and Henry admits it is harder to succeed with this approach in England than Spain. "The Premier League is another story," he said with a knowing look. "Everybody knows how it is to play away games – raining, cold, kick-off at 12 o'clock. It's not easy. One thing you have to say about Spain is everyone tries to play football no matter what. How many times with Arsenal we went away and the other team was just trying to launch balls into the box and have a throw-in like a corner? If you go and play at Stoke City you are going to have what you're going to have. So you have to be tall and battle."

Time for Arsenal to spend some of that Adebayor money on a tall, battling midfielder, then? "The only thing I want to see as an Arsenal lover is for the team to win, whatever the players," Henry replied diplomatically.

Henry is back in London for the Wembley Cup, but injury will deprive him of a chance to re-aquaint himself with old rivals Tottenham tomorrow evening

Arsenal and Manchester United both expect to be fined around £5,000 by Uefa tomorrow for "improper conduct of their supporters" during the Champions League semi-final second leg at the Emirates Stadium in May. Arsenal will be punished after a supporter struck Nemanja Vidic with a plastic drinks bottle while Manchester United are also set to be sanctioned after one of their fans threw a smoke bomb on to the pitch during their 3–1 victory.