We Don't Expect A Walkover

Tomorrow sees the return of club football after the long international break.

For Arsenal, this means we entertain Birmingham FC at the Emirates.

Anyone who didn't spend February 23, 2008, and the rest of that year under some kind of rock or in suspended animation, sharing a freezer with Sly Stallone and Wesley Snipes, that was the day Birmingham City's Martin Taylor launched himself at Eduardo long after the ball was gone, and very nearly chopped Eddy's leg off.

The incident was so utterly horrifying that no replays of it were shown on live tv.  I missed that game, only hearing afterward that it had ended in a 2-2 draw. It was only when seeing the assault on the news later that I realised how close Eduardo had come to never playing football again. There are some who are willing to show pictures of Eddy's leg in the immediate aftermath of the assault. I am not one of those people. Seeing my player's leg held together only by what appears to be his socks is not something I care to do on a regular basis.

In the aftermath of the game, there was a huge outpouring of support for poor Martin Taylor from the English press. Taylor was hailed as a solid lad, a good bloke, not a malicious sort, and so on ad nauseam. The English press, being a particularly xenophobic creature, placed almost all the blame for the incident at Eduardo's door. If only he'd been half a step slower, or not so bloody good with a football, or if his leg had been in the air, were recurrent themes. At no time did the press call for that sort of wild lunge to be outlawed, or state categorically that such play was completely against the spirit of the game. Wenger was carpeted for saying Taylor should never play football again, and the fact that he later apologised for that remark was completely ignored. Imagine if William Gallas had done the same to Wayne Rooney.

The fact that the penalty from which Birmingham equalised was not a foul was ignored. That the ref had turned down a stonewall penalty on Adebayor minutes earlier was ignored. All the press cared about was protecting the reputation of good old honest Martin Taylor.

On Saturday, Eddy will not be playing due to a thigh injury. Martin Taylor will also miss out due to injury, so the meeting of victim and attacker will not take place until perhaps much later in the season. However, I still expect this game to be a blood-and-thunder affair. That game destroyed what had been, up to that point, a glorious season. The horrific injury coupled with the clear bias of the ref against us seemed to drain the players of their resolve and there was a collective slump from which the team never recovered.

Come Saturday, Arsenal are looking to keep a run of 6 straight wins in all competitions going, and I expect that the added motivation of playing the team which tried to kill Eduardo's career is going to be an added bonus. I expect a hard game, for Alex McLeish to watch at least. I know we tend to struggle after an international break, and we will no doubt see a deployment of the famous 5-5-0 formation from Birmingham. This is in keeping with the philosophy that you don't play Arsenal and attempt to play.

Clichy misses out thanks to an ankle knock sustained on international duty, and Kieran Gibbs will be deputising at left back, and will hope to make the most of his opportunity. Diaby looks certain to play, and with Samir Nasri due back from injury any time soon, there is suddenly a lot of competition for places in midfield, which can only be good for the team as a whole.


Myles doesn't think this will be an easy game. I certainly hope not. Perhaps it's the sadist in me, but I want Birmingham to put up some kind of fight at least. It'll certainly make life easier for headline writers: "Brave Birmingham Badly Beaten" or "Resistance Futile as Birmingham Swept Aside By Vengeful Arsenal."

COME ON YOU GUNNERS!