text: The man in the mask is back. But it might take more than a slice of carbon fibre to protect Cesc Fabregas from what could be a quite hateful reception when he takes his first steps at the Emirates Stadium since he left to join Barcelona. That 2011 move was seen and widely accepted - externally - as the prodigal son going home. This next fixture is seen by some as the return of a player who rejected a second coming at Arsenal in favour of Chelsea. He will surely win the league, having already won the Capital One Cup, but what has he lost at the club that made him? What of the line of communication he once had with Arsene Wenger? Cesc Fabregas will be making his first return to the Emirates since leaving Arsenal in 2011 . The 27-year-old is expected to wear a protective mask when he travels to north London this weekend . Fabregas joined Arsenal as a teenager (left) before returning to the Premier League with Chelsea (right) Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger speaks to a young Fabregas after snatching him away from Barcelona in 2004 . It has been suggested they have not spoken since Fabregas made the summer move that got so many backs up. There is nothing terribly unusual in that except they used to be so close, to the extent that Wenger continued to text Fabregas on birthdays and career milestones while he was at Barcelona. ‘He hasn’t spoken to me since I came back,’ Fabregas was quoted as saying in September. ‘It was the kind of relationship I always would have liked to keep. ‘But I'm sure once everything dies down a bit in the future we will talk. There is no problem. I'll always be grateful to him whatever happens.’ Except there is still believed to be only silence from the man he once called his ‘second father’. And for the first time, the Fabregas narrative is something less than delightfully romantic. Until now he had followed a largely clean script. He was the boy who attended his first Barca match as a nine-month-old baby with his grandfather. The tale of how he came to be their player 10 years later is wonderful. The story goes that he was playing for Mataro, 35km north of Barcelona. Rodolfo Borrell used to search the surrounding areas for young players for Barca’s Under 11s side and one day watched Fabregas’s team. Nothing to report. When he came back, two months later in September 1997, he saw a midfielder he simply needed to sign. Gunners legend Dennis Bergkamp watches on as Fabregas plays a pass during training early in his career . Fabregas' only piece of major silverware with Arsenal was winning the 2005 FA Cup against Man United . Former captain Thierry Henry (right) helped Fabregas come through the ranks at Arsenal . Fabregas impressed by scoring against Juventus as Arsenal reached the 2006 Champions League final . The Spaniard is involved in a scuffle with his future club during the 2007 Carling Cup final . ‘I went to see them play again and suddenly I saw this one player who was simply wonderful,’ he told the BBC. ‘They told me he was called Cesc Fabregas and he was one year younger than the rest. He was good at running with the ball, had a fantastic pass over short, medium and long distances. He was very mature for his age and had all the attributes we were looking for at Barcelona at that time. ‘At half-time, I asked the coach why I had not seen this kid before. He admitted that, when he saw me coming, he had decided not to play him because he knew that if I saw him I would take him.’ He ultimately became part of a group that included Lionel Messi, coming through the ranks. His idol was Pep Guardiola and when Fabregas’s parents divorced in 2001, Guardiola handed him a signed shirt with the message: ‘One day, you will be the number four of Barcelona.’ Wenger bestows his wisdom on a young Fabregas during a training session at London Colney in 2008 . Fabregas celebrates a a goal with former Arsenal team-mates Emmanuel Adebayor (left) and Tomas Rosicky . Fabregas holds aloft the trophy after winning the the 2008 European Championships with Spain . Fabregas lifts the Emirates Cup after winning the pre-season tournament with Arsenal in 2009 . Fabregas trains with another Arsenal star to leave the Emirates, Robin van Persie, in 2010 . The Arsenal playmaker scores a penalty against Braga in the Champions League in 2010 . Alas, he left for Arsenal in 2003 having not been picked for a single first-team game. By the time he returned in 2011, he had become Arsenal’s youngest first-team player, their captain and a European Championship and World Cup winner with Spain. In 2005, aged 18 and with 60 first-team games already played, he told The Independent: ‘I will always be a fan of Barcelona. But Arsenal gave me an opportunity. It's like you are standing at a station and there's a train that you must take. It's the opportunity of your life. ‘At Barcelona, I was playing for the Under 16s. Here, they gave me the opportunity to play for the reserves straight away, soon the Carling Cup. It gave me the motivation that I needed. Now I want to improve, get more mature, get more experience.’ Fabregas celebrates with Spain team-mate David Villa en route to wining the 2010 World Cup in South Africa . Spain team-mates attempt to engineer a move to Barcelona by pulling a club shirt over Fabregas in 2010 . Fabregas walks off dejected after Arsenal crash out to his boyhood club Barca in the 2011 Champions League . The midfielder's relationship with mentor Wenger became strained after he left Arsenal in 2011 . Six years on from that interview, he detailed his relationship with the club and Wenger as he explained why he was joining Guardiola’s Barcelona. ‘I only won one FA Cup really, and this is the biggest regret I will have in my career, probably, not to be able to lift a trophy as Arsenal captain,’ he said. ‘I will always be an Arsenal fan because what they have done for me is unbelievable and I will never forget it. ‘Wenger is a special person to me. He'll always be a second father to me. I think if Arsenal want to keep being the club they are then they have to always be under his control, because he's the best, everyone respects him, and for me, he will always be the best person that I've met in football. ‘I'll never be able to find the words to express my thanks for what he did for me.’ Fabregas is given a hero's welcome on his return home to the Nou Camp with Barcelona . Lionel Messi (right) celebrates with Fabregas after scoring his first goal for Barcelona in 2011 . Fabregas scored against Italy in the group stages as Spain went on to win the 2012 European Championship . Fabregas gets involved in a row with Chelsea stars as Barcelona are sent out of the 2012 Champions League . Spain stars Andres Iniesta (left), Fernando Torres (centre) and Fabregas crash out of the 2014 World Cup . By that point, it would be hard to blame the rationale in wanting a move to Barcelona, but staff at Arsenal were disappointed in how the switch was pushed through. What followed was a three-season spell that has, perhaps, been unfairly characterised. The suggestion is that he under-performed at Barca, which in part is the fault of the club itself. Upon leaving last summer, the club, oddly, flagged up in an official statement that he tends to flag in the second half of seasons. They were right, as this campaign has proved, but it was unusual for a club to say so much. In any case, he won La Liga, Copa del Rey and Club World Cup winners’ medals and in his second season, only Victor Valdes had more La Liga starts. It was not exceptional, though, and last summer came the chance to leave, bringing with it much of the confusion that still surrounds the midfielder. Wenger himself gave the impression that there is more to know about the circumstances behind the move to Chelsea, saying on Thursday: ‘We will have to discuss that one day. With all the terms.’ The 27-year-old celebrates scoring against Stoke in his debut season at Stamford Bridge . Fabregas played against his former club with Chelsea for the first time in October 2014 . Fabregas still keeps in touch with Arsenal legend Henry, with the pair attending a NBA game in London . Fabregas celebrates scoring the only goal against local rivals QPR at Loftus Road earlier this month . Fabregas wears a protective mask as Chelsea defeat Manchester United to close in on the 2015 title . Sport analysts BSports are predicting a tight match, with Arsenal slight favourites to beat Chelsea . Fabregas said in a statement last summer that Arsenal ‘decided’ not to trigger an option they held to re-sign him. Wenger has previously claimed that by the time he knew Fabregas was available a deal with Chelsea was almost done. It is interesting to wonder how much from either side is PR and how much is genuine. Did either side really want the other? At the very least Fabregas will likely endure a tough afternoon under his mask on Sunday. He might soon have that league title he craved, but it will not have come without some significant losses.
target: Chelsea travel to Arsenal for their Premier League clash on Sunday .
  This will be Cesc Fabregas' first return to the Emirates since leaving .
  His relationship with Arsene Wenger has deteriorated since he left in 2011 .
  Wenger: Arsenal fans should give Fabregas a good welcome .
  READ: Jose Mourinho deep down admires what Wenger has established .
  READ: Arsenal fans call for removal of Emirates Stadium Fabregas flag .