Wenger said: ‘We were cruising, in control, two goals.
Arsenal fans who debated on the train to the match whether their team would score four, five or six goals should have known better, given the opposition.
Even if this game had ended as another 2-2 draw, it would not have been as traumatic as the teams’ last Premier League meeting when a horrific injury to Eduardo, captain William Gallas’ mental meltdown and two dropped points destroyed Arsenal’s 2007/08 season.
Flying high: Arsenal’s Abou Diaby (right) is congratulated by Robin van Persie after notching against Birmingham.
The Premier League is like that. We made a mistake defensively, they got back to 2-1. In the second half we did not have the same fluency, the same control in the game, the same pace.’
Arsenal took their foot off the gas after Abou Diaby had converted Tomas Rosicky’s cross to double the lead given to them moments earlier by Robin van Persie’s fine finish from Alex Song’s crisp pass.
Having struggled to get out of their half for much of the previous 37 minutes, Birmingham pulled a goal back when Mannone made a limp challenge for the ball with Sebastian Larsson and Lee Bowyer hooked the ball into the net.
The Birmingham fans celebrated with the fervour of people who could not believe their luck. Their team had been outplayed to such an extent that the £40million new owner Carson Yeung had promised for the January transfer window seemed likely to be woefully inadequate