The odd bit of pointing and yelling and a typically busy performance, with a decisive late contribution to create the winner. If he had not been wearing the armband, you might have struggled to notice anything unusual about Cesc Fàbregas last night. Just what Arsène Wenger would have wanted as the captain eases into his new role.

With Dynamo Kiev cautious, albeit dangerous, opponents, this was one of those Arsenal games when attacking moves flow organically, greenhorns are not rattled to the limits of their mettle and there is little need to cajole or chasten team-mates under only sporadic pressure. “Fàbregas was very good,” Wenger, the manager, said.

“Focused for 90 minutes in the game, worked hard defensively and offensively. It was not easy in midfield because they closed us down very well.”

William Gallas, meanwhile, had a garish night, heavily involved at both ends of the pitch. Wenger praised his commitment, but the defender did not give the impression of a man liberated by the removal of responsibility.

Fàbregas donned the Arsenal armband for the second time after captaining the side near the end of the 2007 Carling Cup final. As he explained yesterday, the position is not fresh to him: he was captain of Barcelona’s youth teams and of Spain Under-17. “I’m not a big shouter and I will not change my playing style now that I am captain,” the 21-year-old said before the match.

He has worked under three Frenchmen with contrasting personalities: Patrick Vieira, Thierry Henry and Gallas. Fàbregas plans to ask Henry for advice, although the Barcelona forward always appeared more comfortable providing game-changing moments through his own genius than in prompting his charges to do the same.

On Vieira, Fàbregas said: “He led by example, he never said too much before the games but on the pitch you knew you could count on him to go to war with you.” This was not an intense conflict, but after Gallas’s comments last week, there was no civil war.

The key question, though, will only be answered in the weeks and months to come: were Arsenal’s problems this season exacerbated by the dubious character of the leader, or the followers? Good captains improve and inspire. They rarely transform.