FA Cup Fifth round/ Arsenal 0 Blackburn 0: Mark Hughes made his intentions plain from the start.

Withdrawing David Bentley, potentially Blackburn's most influential creative player, into deep midfield, he invited the man who used to be David Dunn to fill what the denizens of Highbury once knew as the Bergkamp role - the very one for which Bentley was groomed during his years with Arsenal's academy and reserve sides. Dunn, who once had his own pretensions to such eminence, was there not to weave spells but to harry and chivvy.

Perhaps Cesc Fabregas, one of a number of Arsene Wenger's prodigies who stood in the way of Bentley's progress in north London, was motivated by sympathy for his former colleague when he approached Hughes after the final whistle.

"Didn't you play for Barcelona?" the 19-year-old Spaniard, himself plucked from Camp Nou's nursery, asked the 43-year-old Welshman, who had just taken charge of his 100th match with Blackburn.

"I told him, yes, I did, a long time ago," Hughes said. "He shook his head. I asked him if there was something wrong. He said something like, 'That's not Barcelona football'. I told him I don't have Barcelona's players.

"I won't tell you what else I said. But he possibly needs to show a bit more respect to people who've won a few more FA Cups than he has."

Four-one, in that respect. And the precise wording of Hughes's immediate response to Fabregas's goading was clear from the television footage. An hour later, while Hughes was giving his press conference, the word came that Fabregas was waiting to talk to him. "He can wait," Hughes said.

But when his business was done he went off to receive an apparently unreserved apology, letting it be known the matter was at an end.

For Arsene Wenger, the draw simply added another trip north to an already crowded diary.

His solution, since we asked, would be to settle FA Cup ties at the first time of asking. Did he think other managers would agree with him? "I don't know. Usually not."

With tomorrow's trip to Eindhoven and Sunday's League Cup final in prospect, he had made nine changes from the reserve-packed team that emerged victorious from last Wednesday's enthralling fourth-round replay at Bolton. Fabregas, Thierry Henry, Fredrik Ljungberg and William Gallas were among those returning to the starting line-up. But, in the way of such things, they managed to look more jaded than those they replaced.

Henry, shrugging his way through the game, looked a great deal less potent than either Jeremie Aliadiere or Emmanuel Adebayor, the latter coming on with Tomas Rosicky after 69 minutes to try to dispel the lethargy.

Hughes, lacking half a dozen first-choice players, could thank Brad Friedel for a wonderful double save at the death that preserved the draw. In terms of memorable incidents, that was it.

• Guardian Service