Concern for Wenger as Arsenal start to wilt

ARSENE WENGER did not have to say a word. The pose said it all: rocked back on his haunches, his head buried deep in his hands, Arsenal’s manager suddenly looked a worried man.

The Frenchman had just seen yet another home attack crash fruitlessly against the solid blue wall erected at one end of the Emirates stadium and an air of foreboding was creeping over this sparkling arena. For perhaps the first time this season, Arsenal’s tyros were visibly buckling under the intense heat of a Premier League title race.

Wenger’s dark mood had blackened even further by the end of the night, when Manchester United had barged them off the top of the table, and it might be some time before the north Londoners clamber back to the summit. United are currently playing the best football in the country and their fixture list in January has a decidedly benign appearance. With Chelsea also beginning to develop an ominous rhythm, Arsenal simply cannot afford any more days like this.

This was, as Wenger confirmed, their ‘‘poorest performance of the season’’ and the fear must be that a failure to slice and dice opponents mired in the nether reaches of the Premier League table will inflict an irreparable dent on his young team’s confidence.

‘‘We were caught in the feeling, during the game, that it would be easy and that’s a good lesson for us,’’ said Wenger, who admitted ‘‘full responsibility’’ for Arsenal dropping points at home for just the second time this season.

‘‘I don’t think this will affect the mentality of the players but we do have to pick up as many points as possible this month. That’s why we are disappointed because we have dropped two big points.’’

Tumbling off the summit could be the least of Wenger’s concerns. There should have been no cause for panic when Garry O’Connor headed an equaliser, via Cesc Fabregas’ boot, from Sebastian Larsson’s corner. There were still 42 minutes to play: plenty of time, one would think, for Arsenal’s class to tell.

Instead, they panicked. Confronted with opponents grimly determined to protect their point, Arsenal’s football became flustered and incoherent. Even Fabregas, so often the club’s saviour, seemed to be struck by what a golfer would call the yips: every time he drew back his boot to strike a pass, the ball would squirt in an apparently arbitrary direction. Shorn of their creative fulcrum, Arsenal drifted all too quickly into mediocrity.

‘‘I do not think the mentality is gone,’’ Gael Clichy, the defender, said. ‘‘We are still there for the title. It is always the danger when you play so well from the first game in the championship that you do not have to question yourself after every game. But Manchester United were top before the New Year and it is the same picture again: our job now is to re-focus.’’

Arsenal might still have muddled through if they had not been pitted against opponents as obdurate as Birmingham.

Wenger had a point when he observed that Manuel Almunia, the Arsenal goalkeeper, will not enjoy a quieter afternoon all season but the Spaniard still produced the game’s best save, a superb, full-length stop to deflect Cameron Jerome’s low shot.

Even Emmanuel Adebayor’s successful 21st-minute penalty relied on a dash of good fortune. Stephen Kelly’s tackle on Eduardo was clean enough, but in reaching the ball he had to snake a boot through the Croat’s legs. It was enough to send the striker tumbling and Adebayor rolled the ball just out of Maik Taylor’s reach.

It says everything about the protection the Birmingham goalkeeper was afforded that he was not forced into a meaningful save for the rest of the afternoon. The epitome of City’s resilience was their captain Damien Johnson, who was forced to wear a protective face mask after suffering a fracture of his skull two weeks ago.

The 29-year-old made some eye-watering blocks as Arsenal laid siege in the second half and, while the man himself reacted quizzically to his new-found hero status, his manager saw no need for modesty.

‘‘He’s my type of player, to show that kind of bravery,’’ said Alex McLeish, who confirmed that he will bid again for the Everton forward James McFadden after seeing a €3.75million offer rejected last week. ‘‘I know that many players would not have even contemplated playing and I was astonished he was able to play but he’s got the heart and the character for that.’’ Heart and character. Arsenal will need to prove they have plenty of both if their mid-season malaise is not to prove terminal.

ARSENAL (4-4-2): Almunia 7, Sagna 5 (Diaby 84, 5), Gallas 6, Senderos 6, Clichy 6, Walcott 5 (Bendtner 65, 5), Fabregas 5, Flamini 6, Hleb 6, Adebayor 6, Eduardo 6.

Subs Not Used: Lehmann, Gilberto, Hoyte.

BIRMINGHAM (4-4-2): Maik Taylor 7, Kelly 6, Ridgewell 8, Schmitz 7, Queudrue 6 (Parnaby 61, 6), Larsson 7, Johnson 9, Muamba 7, Kapo 7, O’Connor 7 (Forssell 76, 6), Jerome 7 (McSheffrey 76, 6).

Subs Not Used: Martin Taylor, Doyle.

REFEREE: Phil Dowd (Staffordshire) 6: Birmingham complained about the penalty but Dowd was correct. Could — and probably should — have sent off Alexander Hleb for two bookable offences in the second half.

MATCH RATING: *** Arsenal will be kicking themselves, but any upset involving a top four club has to be welcomed. Birmingham were well worth a point.