Arsenal Beat Birmingham 2-1 As Jack Wilshere Sees Red

Before I go into my analysis of yesterday's victory over Birmingham I have to first talk about the red card Jack Wilshere received. It was exactly the type of tackle that our boss has been talking about recently, and Nikola Zigic was lucky that he didn't suffer a serious injury as a result of it. The challenge resulted from a poor touch by Wilshere, which he tried to chase as it got away from him. However, he went in studs-first and caught Zigic right on the ankle, and the referee had no choice in issuing the red card.

It's the type of challenge we've seen Wilshere make a few times already since his return from his loan spell at Bolton. Thankfully he didn't connect with his opponents so badly on the other occasions, but it's something he has to eliminate from his game. I have no problem with a player being committed when he is tackling, but you cannot slide in studs-first without risking serious injury to your opponent.

There was an incident earlier in the game where the giant Zigic turned his shoulder into Wilshere's face and caught him. I thought Zigic knew what he was doing, and it's possible that Wilshere decided to exact some revenge of his own. That's the type of thing that just cannot be proven either way and it brings up the ugly possibility of intent.

After the game the boss said that the challenge deserved a red card, and he couldn't really say anything else after his comments about exactly those type of challenges recently. Wilshere also agreed that he deserved a red card, and hopefully he will have learned something from it that he can use in future. I'm sure he'll be thinking about it as he sits out our next three domestic games as a result of that red card. Hopefully the team won't suffer too much as a result.

I'm sure the media will be happy to tell us that Arsenal have had three red cards already this season but they will neglect to mention that the last red card for violent conduct that Arsenal got was nearly three years ago. All we want is some consistency from referees and we will gladly take our punishment when it is due. Surely the elbow to the head of Marouane Chamakh yesterday by Roger Johnson was deliberate and the referee took no action despite seeing the incident.

On to the business of my match review now: The boss picked the team exactly as I had predicted. To be honest he didn't really have a lot of choice, as the inclusion of Tomas Rosicky ahead of either Abu Diaby or Andrei Arshavin was the only real decision he had to make. He couldn't really have started any of the returning injured players, as they need to make their way back into the team gradually.

The early signs were good, as Arsenal played with pace and purpose. When Wilshere set Chamakh up we seemed certain to take lead, but his finishing with his feet still leaves a lot to be desired, and a Birmingham player managed to block his effort.There were other efforts that looked promising, and Arsenal really should have taken the lead, but when Sebastien Squillaci had a goal disallowed for offside from a Samir Nasri free kick the signs looked ominous.

Just after the half-hour mark the sucker punch arrived, as Emmanuel Eboue allowed his man to put in a cross. The gigantic Zigic jumped a lot higher than the Arsenal defenders to head the ball into the corner of the net and leave Lukasz Fabianski with no chance. Maybe Johan Djourou and Gael Clichy should have got tighter, but it isn't easy to match somebody that height in the air. The pressure needs to be put on the ball before it's crossed, in my opinion.

The story had taken a very familiar turn as Arsenal had failed to take their chances at home and our opponents scored on their first real chance. Thankfully, for a change, Arsenal managed to get the equaliser before halftime, thanks to a penalty after Chamakh had made the most of a tackle from Scott Dann. I thought he looked like he was already on his way down, in a Wayne Rooney-like fashion, before there was any contact, but there was contact and the referee gave us the penalty. Nasri dispatched the penalty with ease, and the hard work of pulling back the equaliser was done before halftime for a change.

Arsenal then managed to take the lead only two minutes after the restart, as Alex Song and Wilshere combined to set up Chamakh. As he made his way towards goal he got a couple of lucky breaks, but he kept his head to round the keeper and slot home what turned out to be the winner. It means that all of his goals so far this season have come at home. It would be nice if he could add a few on the road to that total.

As the game wore on Arsenal looked a little nervous. and the play was pretty good until it came to the final third. With 20 minutes left Rosicky came on for the invisible Arshavin and finally managed to put some pressure on Stephen Carr at right back, who was the weak spot in their defence. Carr should have already been booked for a bad challenge in the first half, and he quickly picked up a yellow card for pushing Rosicky to the floor after being beaten by him. 

Thankfully, Birmingham continued to threaten very little and the game looked to be petering out until Wilshere got himself sent off just before the end. The fourth official showed four minutes of injury time, and I felt very nervous as Birmingham looked to take advantage of the extra man and pumped balls goalwards. I was impressed with how Fabianski came for a couple of balls and claimed them very well. I honestly felt that Manuel Almunia would have stuck to his line in a similar situation. When the final whistle went you could sense the relief in the crowd and the players, too.

We now have Shakhtar Donetsk at home on Tuesday night and I think Wilshere will start that game whether Cesc Fabregas is ready to play or not, as we will be without Wilshere for our next two league games and the Carling Cup game against Newcastle. It was interesting that Wilshere admitted that he deserved the red card. When you compare his reaction to that of Paul Robinson from Bolton after a similar challenge on Diaby that brought no punishment you can see the difference between Arsenal and some other clubs. Not only did Robinson say it was a good tackle, but his manager didn't condemn it when it was shown to him on Goals On Sunday the next day.

I find I can't watch that programme anymore, as their over-inflated opinions of how they judge incidents in matches is really annoying. I can now add that to Sky Sports News, which I find impossible to watch as well, and it means my football highlights are restricted to the BBC and RTE here in Ireland. I can still watch the games live on Sky because I really don't have any option. Even when I tune in to a live stream to watch a game I find the commentators and co-commentators very annoying. We were treated to the co-commentator yesterday telling us that Wilshere's challenge was as bad as the one by Martin Taylor that destroyed Eduardo's leg. Maybe he should re-watch the video of what Taylor did to Eduardo and think again about a comment like that and consider the consequences to Eduardo's career compared to Zigic not actually being injured by Wilshere's poor challenge. That's the lot for today but I'll be back tomorrow with more.

See you tomorrow.