Van Persie: We were lucky

Arsenal 1 Birmingham City 0

Arsenal striker Robin van Persie admitted his team were “very lucky” to beat battling Birmingham 1-0 at Highbury today.

City held out until the 81st minute when Van Persie’s low shot took a deflection off Stephen Clemence and deceived Maik Taylor, whose excellence had kept the Gunners at bay up to that point.

Blues were reduced to 10 men in the first half after Kenny Cunningham brought down Freddie Ljungberg.

Northern Ireland goalkeeper Taylor then saved a Robert Pires penalty, after Damien Johnson fouled Ljungberg in the box.

It looked like Steve Bruce’s men might take a point back to the West Midlands until Van Persie’s fortuitous effort.

The Dutch forward told Sky Sports: “We were very lucky. It wasn’t a good match. It was very hard playing against them, and they played very well in the first half-hour.

“After the red card it was still a hard match – but we played a good passing game. Maybe I was a bit lucky with my goal.”