Kevin Phillips scored in the final minute to thwart Arsenal's pursuit of the Premier League title.Samir Nasri had come off the substitutes bench to score ten minutes from time and send Arsenal towards a seventh successive win.
But goalkeeper Joe Hart then made a great save to deny Cesc Fabregas and Andrei Arshavin missed a great opportunity from inside the penalty area.
And Phillips found the net to mark his 250th career goal as Barry Ferguson chipped a free kick into the box where Bacary Sagna kicked the ball against the Birmingham forward - and Manuel Almunia could only flick the ball over the line.
It leaves Arsenal on a low as they head into a clash with Barcelona in the Champions League.
REACTION:
The late goal left Arsene Wenger furious because he claimed Christian Benitez was offside as the ball was played.
And that was not the end of his frustrations, as he hit out at Craig Gardner for a tackle on Fabregas that has left the midfielder doubtful for the upcoming game with Barcelona.
Wenger said: "It was a bad tackle ... another one. I don't kow how Cesc is, we will have to assess him. He got tackled at the knee, and if he has a mark under his knee I do not know why it was not a foul.
"You should ask the referee, I don't understand football."
The goal from Phillips, as he bundled home a 90th-minute leveller, left Wenger admitting: "I don't know how damaging it will be, but I thought it was offside.
"And we should have kept the ball in the corner before that - but we didn't."
Birmingham manager Alex McLeish said: "I have got to bow to the never-say-die attitude of our players. Kev gets in there where it hurts just like he has done during his whole career.
"Wenger did not complain to me about the tackle. I thought there were a few bad Arsenal tackles.
"But I think Arsenal were a bit apprehensive about coming here today so maybe it was a smokescreen for that."
HOW IT HAPPENED:
The sides cancelled each other out during the first half, although Theo Walcott missed a great opportunity. The double substitution to bring in Nasri and Arshavin increased the Gunners' attacking threat, and the Russian should have tied up the points just before Phillips scored the goal that could prove so critical at the end of the term.
WHAT IT MEANS:
Arsenal have lost ground at thr top and surely the title has now slipped too far from their grasp. This may be a good time for them to throw all of their efforts into this week's Champions League tie.
QUOTABLE:
"It was a robust tackle from Craig."
- Alex McLeish supports his player's challenge that left Fabregas limping.
BIRMINGHAM CITY 1 (Phillips 89) ARSENAL 1 (Nasri 80)
PLAYER MARKING:
Birmingham City: Hart 7, Carr 6, Johnson 7, Dann 6, Ridgewell 7, Gardner 7, Ferguson 6, Bowyer 7, Fahey 6 (Phillips 83, 6), Jerome 7, McFadden 6 (Benitez 76, 6).
Subs (not used): Taylor, Larsson, Michel, Parnaby, Vignal.
Arsenal: Almunia 6, Sagna 6, Campbell 6, Song 7, Clichy 7, Denilson 6, Diaby 8, Walcott 5 (Arshavin 68, 6), Fabregas 7, Rosicky 6 (Nasri, 68, 6), Bendtner 6.
Subs (not used): Fabianski, Eduardo, Vela, Eboue, Traore.
ATTENDANCE: 27, 039
NEXT UP:
- Birmingham City v Liverpool (Home), Premier League, 04/04, 1500 BST
- Arsenal v Barcelona (Home), Champions League, 31/03, 1945 BST
MAN OF THE MATCH:
Abou Diaby (Arsenal): He was superb at the heart of the Arsenal midfield, and without him the Gunners would probably not have come away with as much as a point.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
arsenal are crap
the team is crap
owners are crap
manager is crap
a gutted goner
prove me wrong
i just hope
i am wrong
pls pls pls
moaning wenger moan moan moan froggie bastard
Jesus Christ (excuse calling the Lord's name in vain) but would you fake Arsenal fan's please please please piss off and support someone else, PLEASE!!! And the same thing goes for you xenophobic French hating English pricks, do the world and the human race a favour and just piss off you racist BNP supporting cunts!!!
Now that I've got that out of my system here's the proper stuff!
Birmingham were a lucky team, they got a jammy goal (which could well have been offside, I need to see the replay but I may be wrong), they played for a draw, did you not see how they celebrated at the end of the match like they just won the bloody cup final! They had no real tactics during the game apart from kicking the ball as far up field whenever it came into their goal area. I'll grant you Almunia should have done better but i think it caught him by surprise but that's no excuse he has been piss poor really for years, the occasional good save don't make up for the continual errors that he makes (and I still haven't forgiven him for not saving at least one of the Barca goals in CL final, goalie being beaten at his near post indeed).
Although the season aint over yet and Arsenal are definetly still in the mix (Chelsea & Manu will drop points, watch and see), that is 2 points unnecessarily dropped. Arsenal should have and could have ripped Birmingham apart, they were there for the taking.
1: Wenger - wrong tactics: he clearly had an eye on the Barca game and didn't pay his strongest team from the off. Did you see how Arshavin & Nasri changed the game for Arsenal. Wenger has done this tactic before whenever he has a big CL in the week he always starts the game before by not starting his best 11, a gamble that has yet to pay off! For me the best way to prepare for the Barca game would have been an emphatic win over Birmingham. He should have played the best 11 from the beginning hopefully Arsenal would have scored a couple of goals knocked the stuffing out of Birmingham then once the game was won then sub & rest his players for Barca.
Did you not see how Birmingham gained confidence that they might get a result as the game progressed because Arsenal didn't score
2. Song/Silvestre - (A minor personal point) Personally I would played Silvestre in defence instead of Song. I know what you're all thinking but I don't think Birmingham's strikers hardly troubled Arsenal's defence, Sol was outstanding and copied with everything. I think Silvestre would have as well, that would have left Song free for midfield to play along side Diaby to protect Fabregas, Arsenal would have hammered Birmingham.
3. Arshavin - This guy is without doubt a talented player (have you seen how he always gets into goalscoring opportunities, his movement is fantastic) but his shooting is worst than Eduardos, the number of sitters that he has missed this season is phenomenal, didn't even hit the target. If he had scored that easy shot that he scuffed, game over. If Arsenal do not win the title this year he must take the vast majority of the blame. He had numeros chances against Man U & Chelsea and that was the difference between Arsenal and them, they took the chances and scored and Ashavin didn't!
4. Ref - (now the most impt one) Could someone honestly explain to me why Diaby's goal was disallowed and why the ref waited so long to blow his whistle if it was a foul! From what I saw he won a challenge on a 50/50 ball where he was much more physically stronger and had the desire to win. What's the difference when compared with teams taking a physical approach against Arsenal and winning the 50/50 challenges. You lot make me laugh when you say 'it's a man's game', 'Arsenal are too weak', 'not up for the fight', then you get challenges like Gallas's at Bolton and Sol's where they actual play for the ball and not the player, and actually win the ball fairly the other player goes down and it's cheating Arsenal, you can't have it both ways.
In addition, could someone also explain to me why the ref handed out yellow cards immediately to Arsenal players for inocous challenges whereas he waited for Birmingham players to make several bad challenges before handing them any cards until towards the end of the match??? Coincidence eh!
We missed Vermaelen because of a poor ref decision last week, Baz would you like to explain why Vidic was not sent off yesterday an elbow or even during the Carling cup final? Do you still wish to deny Man U get preferential treatment? Preferential treatment is a 2 edged sword, Man U getting favourable decisions is one also giving your title rivals unfavourable decisions is another.
When Wenger complains of a conspiracy against Arsenal in the EPL it is evidence like this that comes to mind. Fouls committed against Arsenal continually go unpunished whilst Arsenal players are singled out by refs for harsh treatment. Here on the continent there are already whispers and discussions by football commentators that the EPL and British media are xenophobic anti certain managers from the continent such as Wenger, Rafa, Ancelotti, Zola, Mancini, etc and pro Brit managers like Fergie, big Sam, McLeish, Redknapp, etc. Don't believe me, just take a look at the positive press they get and compare. A WORD OF WARNING: this could come back to haunt England at the world cup, you might get a continental ref in one of your impt games.....need I say anymore, I think you all understand what I'm saying!
Hello David,WHY O WHY are you so anti english as you were born in London which im pretty sure is in England,which in my book makes you English,so why do you put negitive comments about us doing well in the world cup???.I love reading your comments about Arsenal,you must take ages to write them,BUT the fact of the matter is you are a very good side and can play good football,BUT you are not good enough to win the premiership.Look at yesterdays results,Chelsea scored 7 and we responded with a 4-0 win away from home keeping us top,what did you do,just to remind you,LOST GROUND.You(and Wenger) seem to think that all referees are against you and on the side of Man Utd,wrong you are simply not good enough.By the way i hope you beat Barcalona this week and Inter in the semis so we can kick your sorry arse agian in the final.COME ON ENGLAND,and Man Utd
So...Man Utd are as good as in the Champions League Finals already, are they?
Well, I guess the Arsenal have it all to do-try & beat the hell out of Barca, and then sort out the winner of Inter/CSKA Moscow.
Meanwhile Man Utd are already at the Bernabeu, just calmly waiting to accept the trophy, that is, after breaking a wee bit of sweat, of course...
I find it interesting that many teams prefer meeting the Arsenal, than someone else..Man Utd would certainly prefer Arsenal that to face Barca, and Barca seem to reciprocate a similar view: better the Arsenal than Utd. Well, let's see.
Barry me ol' cock I'll answer your comment when I have more time, you know by now that I don't just make a statement I back it up with facts!
Barry my good mate got your Man U shirt already laundered and pressed and all ready to go celebrate down the Rovers Return, well don't! The season aint over yet, still a long way to go and your only 4 points ahead. A lot can happen in football like the fluke goal that Birmingham got, these things happen in football, you just got to get on with them but nothing fluky about Vidic not getting sent off or Diaby's goal being disallowed, eh!
Prove me wrong that you don't get assistance and prove to me that Arsenal get fair or favourable decisions in the EPL. I've given you ample evidence to the contrary, I'll give you more if you like there's plenty. I understand you and Baz don't want to face the reality of it but the evidence speaks volumes mate.
Maybe you misunderstand, I'm not anti-English, I'm anti-English dicks, anti-Italian dicks, anti-French dicks and any dick quite frankly who express xenophobic racist comments like the kind I constantly see expressed about Wenger. Wenger constantly gets a negative press deliberately mis-quoting or sensationalising what he says because he's French and has brought a style of football to England that actually compliments the English game but yet I continually read comments by English dicks saying the man's anti-English and that there aren't any Brits in the Arsenal team. For me many of these pricks are BNP supporting cunts that don't count either Campbell or Walcott as English as they both have decent 'suntans'. These are the same fuckers that objected to Sven or Cappello getting the England job just because they're foreigners. The same twats that think the world cup is England's by right because they think England invented football, had the biggest empire and won the battle of Waterloo. The same dumb fucks that blame all foreigners for Britain's ill's. The same daft dickless apes that blame the failings of the England national team on Wenger and too many foreigners in the EPL.
But don't worry Barry just for you, because I like you, your not as big a dick as I thought you were, I'll be supporting England this world cup as well as Italy (sorry I have to the wife's Italian & I live in Rome, she'll cut me knob off while I'm asleep if I don't).
Common England do it for the Queen.....rule Britannia....Land of hope and glory.....God save our gracious queen.....
ps Barry see you in the CL final, remember Man U have never beaten Arsenal in a cup final!!!
Still looking forward to the final?
It's interesting 2 note, back in The Invincibles era, the Arsenal would normally get pilloried by the press for the physical element added to their attacking game & the resulting record number of red cards they amassed.
This time, they have refined their game to a higher technical level, and greatly reduced the number of red cards incurred, and as a result have suffered at the hands of Prem League teams that cannot handle their new style of play. It's become common knowledge that if you want to have a chance of beating them, you've got to get physical, get stuck into them. The results of this are evident for all to see in the number of fouls committed against Arsenal.
So now, when Arsene Wenger states that the maiming of Ramsey, (despite being unintentional) for example, is unacceptable, he is again attacked by elements of the press.
Had Ramsey been a Man Utd player, everyone (from the suits at FA HQ, to the press, down to the linesmen) would have run for cover.
Absolutely stop-on wachajay!!!