The Spain international scored the opening goal in the 28th minute - his 10th in the Barclays Premier League - and then started the move which led to Fran Merida finishing off Bolton 12 minutes from time.

He also had justifiable claims for at least one penalty, possibly two, in the first half and was the major inspiration behind the Gunners' performance.

Fabregas has missed Arsenal's last three matches with a hamstring injury but his comeback delighted Wenger.

"If you watched the game it is difficult to say how much we have missed him but you don't need to explain to anyone that it is important," said the Frenchman.

"I do not see all the games but what is very interesting for us is Cesc gets stronger and stronger and has more personality on the pitch, like the whole team.

"He grows. He will be 23 this year - he is just starting."

Wenger dismissed concerns his captain had been targeted unfairly by Bolton's players after he received some rough treatment from a Bolton side playing their first match under new boss Owen Coyle.

"Sometimes it looked, from the outside, that he got harshly treated. That is linked with gifted players," he added.

"It is difficult to take the ball off them but he is the guy who touches the ball more than anyone else so it is not illogical the opposition should try to stop him playing.

"We expected a fully-committed Bolton team and we were not disappointed.

"They gave absolutely everything and put us under pressure a lot but we tried to put the ball down and play, sometimes it worked very well during spells in the first half.

"I expected them to drop a little bit at the beginning of the second half as we dropped our level but they had a period for 20 minutes when they had chances and looked dangerous because we lost too many balls in midfield.

"It was important for us not to get to the last 15 minutes only one goal up and the second goal killed the game."

Coyle was obviously disappointed with the result but delighted with the display.

"I thought the level of performance was terrific," he said.

"What we offered for the duration of the match would, on another day, have resulted in points - whether it be one or three.

"We were always in the game, particularly second half, and they weren't half-chances, they were real gilt-edged chances.

"We created chances from the first minute of the match and if you analyse that game I think we were deserving of a better result.

"We never got that break you need against these elite clubs - the first goal hit Matt Taylor on the back of the head and a couple of boys have fallen over when the ball has come into the box."

However, he could not argue with the performance of Fabregas.

"The quality of Fabregas, with the first goal when he bounced a one-two off Eduardo, he could play for anyone in world football," Coyle said.

"He is such a top player."