A James McFadden penalty in added time denies Arsenal victory at St Andrews in a game which saw Gunners striker Eduardo suffer a potentially career threatening injury.
After the final whistle had blown, Arsenal captain William Gallas sat alone and disconsolate on the pitch at St Andrews trying to come to terms with the dramatic events of the preceding 90 minutes which may end up having a huge effect on this season’s Premiership title race.
Eduardo suffers horrific injury
By far the match’s most serious incident happened in only the third minute when Birmingham’s Martin Taylor received a straight red card for a late challenge on Eduardo. While the challenge appeared to be clumsy and mistimed rather than malicious, it caused a horrific injury to the Arsenal player which was so bad that it was not replayed clearly on TV for the sake of good taste.
There then followed a nine minute delay in the game whilst Eduardo received treatment on the pitch before he was taken straight to hospital where he had surgery on what turned out to be a double compound fracture of his leg, an injury which could mean he will never play again.
Unsurprisingly, many of the Arsenal players seemed to be both physically and mentally effected by what had happened to their team-mate and, despite having an extra man, were out of sorts for the remainder of the first half, allowing Birmingham to take the lead.
The Blue’s first goal came on 28 minutes when they were awarded a dubious free-kick on the edge of the Arsenal box after James McFadden appeared to have lost control of the ball. The former Everton player decided to take the set piece himself and curled a superb effort into the top corner of the net.
Walcott leads Arsenal’s second half comeback
Half time gave Arsene Wenger the chance to speak to his players and the result of his words were obvious from the very start of the second period as his side quickly turned the match around with two goals from youngster Theo Walcott.
Walcott’s first came in the fiftieth minute when he flicked the ball home from close range after a towering leap from Emmanuel Adebayor who beat Birmingham goalkeeper Maik Taylor in the air. Taylor was furious with the decision to award the equalizer as he felt that he should have been awarded a foul for Adebayor’s contact, but the only complaints he could have five minutes later were with his defenders, who allowed Walcott the space to run at them and fire a shot into the bottom corner.
Injury time drama
The remainder of the second half saw Adebayor miss a number of chances to add a third to his sides’ tally and Birmingham apparently lacking the ability to get back on level terms. That was until Gunners full-back Gael Clichy suffered a serious lapse of concentration on the edge of his own box in injury time, allowing the ball to run away from him to The Blues’ Stuart Parnaby. Clichy’s subsequent attempt to regain possession sent the Birmingham player tumbling to the ground and, whilst replays showed that the Arsenal defender had played the ball, the referee harshly awarded a penalty, a decision which sent William Gallas into a fit of rage – shouting, screaming, kicking the advertising hoardings and walking off to the far end of the pitch.
With virtually the last kick of the game, James McFadden clinically dispatched the spot kick to give Birmingham a possibly invaluable point – one which left Gallas and Arsenal down on their knees at the top of the Premier League.
