Arsenal-Birmingham City: An Emotional Win for the Gunners

It was a very emotional outing for the Arsenal at St. Andrews yesterday.

The game finished 2-2 with Theo scoring two goals, his first and second respectively in the premiership in an Arsenal shirt. That made it 2-1, with us leading after McFadden had scored with a free kick in the first.

In the 94th minute the ref awarded Birmingham dubious a penalty to square it, and McFadden thumped it in, ending a sad day for Arsenal. 2 points dropped and Man Usa won quite comfortably in the end , not quite what I would have liked and predicted.

That leaves us with a lot to fight for with 11 games to go, 3 points ahead still. The Eduardo injury story is taking centre stage and for good reason too, it was a real horror show!

I was in shock once it happened, I didn't get a good sighter of it, and as those of you who caught the game on TV will know, Sky refused to show replays of the challenge by Martin Taylor. All I was doing was playing off Cescy's reaction to the challenge, he was horrified and it was like he had seen a ghost, he was immediately gesturing to the medical staff to get on the pitch pronto. The rest of the players also were also in disbelief, you could just see it on their faces, I've never seen this sort of look on the players faces, it was as if they were contemplating the futility of life! Terrifying!!

An Ashen faced Gary Lewin spent 8 minutes on the pitch administering to poor Dudu, it was a horrifying for him too, a well practiced medical man!

The injury really affected the boys in the first half, they never showed up at all. It was only in the second half that we showed our dominance. We should have put the game to bed with the numerous chances we created, we didn't and paid the price!

Back to the injury, it was a really a very malicious challenge to say the least, Taylor was sent off with a straight red, and he could have no complaints! Our thoughts and prayers are with Eduardo, really hope to see you back in action soon for us! Always with you, mate! Lets hope he's back soon! Reports suggest that Dudu is definitely out for the remainder of the season and for Euro with Croatia. Really is bad news for all involved with Arsenal FC!

After the match Arsene said-

"I think this guy should never play football again,” “What is this guy doing on the football pitch?

I feel the idea has been going around for some time that to stop Arsenal you have to kick Arsenal. That sort of injury was coming for a long time.”

"His injury is very bad. It is more than his season over.”

Arsene later said that the reaction was a bit excessive , but you can really get a feel of what went on. A more composed Arsene summed up the events rather well here . On a bit of an aside it was great to see Thoe score 2 of his first goals, the second one in particular was quite a peach. He was looking really confident after that, hoping he can carry that through into the upcoming games.

Also, I was really displeased to see Gallas reaction to the injury team penalty, he left his post in defence and was in the opposite half. What was that all about, he had a look of a shattered person. It was emotional affair as you would have clearly noticed, but that was not how a captain should react! He looked a defeated man, with his sitting on the ground , with a weepy look on his face. Will say just this much about it! Really he should lead the way!

So in the end analysis, we lose a player to the most horrendous, malicious challenges, drop 2 points and see our lead cut down to 3 points and with another player added to the injury list.

We will have to journey on, hopefully we will have players back from injury to bolster a fast depleting squad.

We are still on top, we can still do it, Lets do it for Dudu!