Wenger: Birmingham was the turning point

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
17 Oct	3:00 PM	P	Birmingham City (H)	3	1	Win

With the international break over, Arsenal resume Premier League duties and take on Birmingham City today at the Emirates.

The Gunners are 6 points off the pace in the league but have a game in hand (against Bolton), and 3 points today is a must.

But many will remember the match last season when the two clubs last met. Striker Eduardo suffered a horrible injury and Arsenal were harshly treated when Birmingham were awarded a penalty that never was.

Then captain William Gallas staged a silent protest in the centre of the pitch, seemingly frustrated with his team mates, forcing manager Arsène Wenger to drag him away to the dressing room.

Reflecting on the fixture last season, Wenger said: "What sticks in the mind? That we didn't win the game and that Eduardo was severely injured. There were a lot of incidents. The penalty, Gallas's explosion a little bit.

"I still believe that was a big blow. We lost Eduardo for the season and we dropped two points. We couldn't win after that.

"My concern was for Eduardo. Will he play again? Will he be injured for ever? How long will he be out?

"No there were no fears. I was very angry after that game. I was a bit excessive maybe against Taylor. I apologised after that but I still think it was a clumsy tackle. It was a shock for the team to see the leg of Eduardo.

"I don't remember what was the first thing I said to him, but it was a very, very bad day. What saved his career was the action of our physios and the quality of the surgeon.

"I don't believe we fell apart. It was a shock. With these things it is difficult to measure the percentage impact it had on whether we lost the league or not.

"We lost at Liverpool in the Champions League in strange circumstances and that contributed as well. We didn't deserve to go out. After that everything became a bit of a snowball effect. It is difficult to isolate one single incident.

"When you are in that situation you want to try to calm everybody down and that is what I tried to do.

"We were very disappointed because we dropped two points and we lost Eduardo. Your job as a manager is to try to sort these human problems out and when you have sorted one out you have another one and so on.

"One human problem on the day was Eduardo's state of mind and another was Gallas' state of mind."

User Comments

User Comments

• Got something to say?
• Read comments

Vs chelsea