Thaindian News

London, Oct 17 (ANI): Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger has relived one of the most traumatic games in his career; saying that he feared Eduardo would never play again.

Arsenal host Birmingham today, their first meeting since the St Andrew’s draw that wrecked the Gunners’ 2007-08 title hopes.

Martin Taylor’s X-rated tackle left Eduardo with a double leg break and also shattered his teammates.

Gael Clichy gave away a last-minute penalty, which cost Arsenal two points and his howler led to then-skipper William Gallas’ sit-down protest as the Gunners’ dressing room imploded, The Sun reported.

The Gunners would have opened up and eight-point gap on the chasing pack had they beaten the Brummies. But after that agonising draw against Birmingham, Arsenal went on to win just one of their next eight league games and handed the title to Manchester United.

“What sticks in the mind? That we didn’t win the game and that Eduardo was severely injured. There were a lot of incidents. The penalty, Gallas’ explosion a little bit. I still believe that was a big blow. We lost Eduardo for the season and we dropped two points. We couldn’t win after that,” Wenger said.

“My concern was for Eduardo. Will he play again? Will he be injured forever? How long will he be out?”

Wenger was angry after the game and called for Taylor to be banned for life and then to be suspended for as long as Eduardo stayed out.

Rarely does a game have such huge impact on a club but it certainly did for Arsenal.

Wenger said: “I don’t believe we fell apart. It was a shock. With these things it is difficult to measure the percentage impact it had on whether we lost the league or not.” (ANI)