Mark Hughes yesterday took the brave step of calling Francesc Fàbregas and his Arsenal teammates bad losers, but, while he would dearly love that theory to be borne out during this evening’s FA Cup fifth-round replay at Ewood Park, the Blackburn Rovers manager knows enough about the business of winning to feel that it is a trait to be admired as much as deplored.

Hughes seemed to recall his recent spat with Fàbregas when, asked whether superstition had allowed him to take a good look at the FA Cup as it was brought to Blackburn’s training ground for a promotional appearance, he smirked that “I’ve won it a fair few times so I don’t need to see it”. Ten days earlier, when Fàbregas criticised his team’s tactics in drawing 0-0 at the Emirates Stadium, Hughes had accused the 19-year-old of “disrespect to somebody who has won a lot more FA Cups than him”.

Hughes clearly feels that Fàbregas, some of his young teammates and even their manager, Arséne Wenger, have something to learn about accepting setbacks with good grace, but, having hardly been a shrinking violet on the pitch during his playing days with Manchester United, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Chelsea and others, the Welshman does not expect them to try too hard to change their ways.

“To be at a top club you have to have a winner’s mentality and Arsenal players have that individually and collectively,” Hughes, a four-time FA Cup winner as a player, said. “They take defeat poorly, but that’s not a criticism. It’s sometimes a trait you want as a manager.

“Fàbregas came to me and apologised and he said it with sincerity, so I accepted it. I think he’s got an edge about him and if you look back at all the great players over the years, they always had that little bit of an edge. It’s not a bad thing as long as it’s kept in check. I did OK as a player, but he has the potential to win twice as many [medals] as I won if he stays at the top.”

Given the size of Hughes’s medal collection, that is some compliment to Fàbregas and to a young Arsenal team whom José Mourinho, the Chelsea manager, has characterised simply as losers, good, bad or indifferent.

Hughes feels that Wenger made one mistake, though, in allowing David Bentley to leave Arsenal for Lancashire on a permanent basis in January 2006. With the 22-year-old yesterday signing a lucrative new contract running until June 2011, the stage could be set for Bentley to give a timely reminder of his talents tonight.

Bentley has occasionally expressed bitterness at the lack of opportunities that he was given at Arsenal, but, as the ink dried on a new £30,000-a-week contract yesterday, he reflected happily on the path his career has taken after leaving London.

“I went to him [Wenger] and said I wanted to leave and he said no,” Bentley said. “Then I went back a week later and kept on at him to leave. Luckily for me, it has worked out. But I have no problems with Mr Wenger. I have a great respect for him. He has done great things for the game. I am a better player now, in the long term, for having left. I could have stayed and played four games a season in the Carling Cup, but I didn’t want that.”

Hughes is confident that Ryan Nelsen and Christopher Samba, the defenders, will recover from knocks to play tonight and the manager must decide whether to recall Benni McCarthy in favour of the inform Matt Derbyshire in attack.

Arsenal’s triple suspension has been exacerbated by injury problems, with Thierry Henry (foot), Tomas Rosicky (groin), Abou Diaby (ankle) and Gaël Clichy (foot) out. Fàbregas is expected to be rested, with Denilson partnering Gilberto Silva in central midfield.

Teams

Blackburn Rovers (possible; 4-4-2): B Friedel — B Emerton, C Samba, R Nelsen, S Warnock — D Bentley, A Mokoena, Tugay Kerimoglu, M G Pedersen — S Nonda, B McCarthy.

Arsenal (possible; 4-4-2): M Almunia — J Djourou, P Senderos, W Gallas, A Traoré — A Hleb, Gilberto Silva, Denilson, F Ljungberg — J Baptista, J Aliadiãre.

Referee: G Poll.

Explore Football

• Premier League

• Football League

• Scotland

• European Football

• International Football

• TheGame

• Live Match Tracker

• The Fink Tank

• Fantasy Football