Source: Daily_Mail
Arsenal 3 Birmingham 1: Arsene Wenger's anger at Theo Walcott jibe
The two protagonists may not have been on show, but some Birmingham supporters ensured Eduardo was given a disgraceful reminder of the day that Martin Taylor broke his leg.
Whether Theo Walcott heard the travelling fans singing 'There's only one Martin Taylor' as he lay in a crumpled heap following a full-blooded challenge by Liam Ridgewell is unknown.
The same goes for Eduardo, who was in the Emirates stands courtesy of a thigh strain and therefore unable to complete what may have constituted the final mental phase of his recovery from that shocking injury.
But Arsene Wenger certainly heard the chant, and the Arsenal manager was rightly incensed that some saw fit to taunt Eduardo and a clearly distressed Walcott, who looks likely to miss tomorrow's Champions League encounter at AZ Alkmaar.
'That's frankly atrocious,' fumed Wenger. 'They will not be remembered for the quality of their taste with those kinds of remarks. I didn't say a word, I just thought, "That's low".
'Eduardo was here. I don't know how he felt about the chants. I just put that in the ranks of stupidity. You want to forget about it and not talk too much about it because there's not a lot to say. People like that, one starts to say something stupid, everybody follows, even intelligent people. People lose their identity together, and their sense of responsibility.'
Birmingham boss Alex McLeish claimed not to have heard the chant, but added: 'We don't condone that kind of thing.'
McLeish did, however, defend Ridgewell's right to make the challenge which, after a brief return to action, ultimately forced Walcott out of his first start this season with suspected knee ligament damage.
'It was a hard, committed tackle,' said McLeish. 'It was like watching Stuart Pearce again, committed to getting the ball before the forward. The problem sometimes is in the follow through.
'But what do you do? You'll end up not making a tackle at all. I'm sure the Arsenal boys have made tackles like that in the past.' Wenger felt Ridgewell had gone over the top, trying to impress a manager who had asked for more grit, but even the Frenchman conceded there is room for a meaty challenge.
'I felt the tackle was a little bit from the side, but it looked at full pace,' he said. 'I don't want to go too overboard because one of the beauties of the English game is total commitment.
'We have to cut out what is really dangerous but we have to keep the basics, the commitment that makes the league more attractive than any other league.'
One of the reasons Carson Yeung has chosen to get involved at Birmingham, perhaps. Another is surely the hope that his team may come close to playing the football Arsenal are capable of.
It will take a lot more than a £40million January spending spree to do that. But Arsenal did not have things entirely their own way despite going two up inside 18 minutes thanks to another exquisite finish from Robin van Persie and a powerful side-foot from Abou Diaby.
Lee Bowyer's 38th-minute reply after Vito Mannone had fumbled under pressure from former Arsenal midfielder Sebastian Larsson saw Birmingham go in at the break with some hope. And spirited play from the visitors meant Arsenal were only home and dry when Walcott's replacement, Andrey Arshavin, finished off a swift counterattack with a well-placed shot six minutes from time.
McLeish's job is to ensure Birmingham still look an attractive enough proposition to entice high quality players in January now that he is working off his 'wouldn't it be great' list of transfer targets.
McLeish admits his 'wouldn't it be brilliant' list is still a long way off, however. And skipper Lee Carsley, while optimistic about the future, also sounded a note of caution. 'I don't suppose we are going to attract the kind of players that Man City are attracting, but we are in a different kind of market,' he conceded.
'But we're not going to be gazumped by the likes of Stoke like we have been in the past. These are positive times.' Arsenal prove that you don't have to spend a fortune to play at the top end, but after four seasons without a trophy the time has come for Wenger's frugal masterplan to bear fruit.
Curiously, the arrival of rich owners like Yeung could play into Arsenal's hands, with Aston Villa and Sunderland showing it is possible to take points off the established top four sides.
'What is interesting is that it is much tighter than everybody predicted before the season,' said Wenger. 'We still need to improve at the back but we are consistent and we look strong.'
