Arsenal crack after a double bad break

ARSENE WENGER’S retraction of his emotionally-charged and vehement condemnation of Martin Taylor’s tackle, that left Eduardo fighting to save his career, is more than simply the action of a man renowned for being the voice of reason within the Premier League.

It must also be viewed as the first stage of the Frenchman’s attempt to restore a sense of calm and order to an Arsenal title challenge that looked on the verge of meltdown at St Andrews, amid the harrowing scenes of the Croatian’s excruciating pain and William Gallas’ raging sense of injustice.

Wenger’s admitted that his initial outburst that the Birmingham central defender should never again be allowed to play the game, because of the challenge that left the Croatian international requiring surgery for a double compound fracture of his left leg, was “excessive and made in the heat of the moment.”