Birmingham City 1 - 1 Arsenal: Déjà Blue

 Kevin Phillips scored the 250th goal of his club career to derail the Gunners title hopes. Pic via BBC.

Birmingham City 1: Phillips 90+2
Arsenal 1: Nasri 81

For the second time in three years, Arsenal's bid for the Premier League title has been derailed at St. Andrew's. Two years ago, Eduardo's horror injury and an injury time penalty allowed the Blues to steal a point from the Gunners. Yesterday, Arsenal lost two points again at Birmingham, blowing a one goal lead in injury time. I don't really feel like watching the highlights of this one to provide a comprehensive recap, so here are some bullet points.

• It was not surprising to see Alex Song start at center back, in place of the suspended Thomas Vermaelen. Song had a solid game on the back line, as he had in the second half last week.
• It was surprising to see Arsene Wenger's choices at midfield. It's not out of the ordinary for Arsenal to play a 4-5-1 if injuries or suspensions force their hand. It is odd to me that both Samir Nasri and Andrei Arshavin were relegated to the bench. Tomas Rosicky had a solid match in his start, but Theo Walcott did not.
• Arsene Wenger said he would not make choices for his squad based on the thought to rest players for Wednesday's Champions League tie with Barcelona, but it seriously felt like Nasri and Arshavin were left on the bench for exactly that reason.
• Howard Webb had a terrible game as referee. Perhaps I'm biased, and to be fair, Webb helped us in the past by not calling Fabregas's handball at the end of the 1-0 win over Liverpool in February...
• ...but I feel like Alex Song gets booked on his first challenge of every match for no reason, and Gael Clichy's booking was just idiotic. The only possible foul there was obstruction; without contact, it's hard if not impossible to justify a card...
• ...why did it take Webb ages to whistle a foul on Abou Diaby that negated Arsenal's opening goal?
• ...why didn't Webb call a foul on the knee high tackle that injured Cesc Fabregas? The questions about Webb's choices could just keep going.
• I am partially of the opinion that, while I love Fabregas's determination to stay in the game, there were stretches of the first half where his knee injury appeared to be detrimental to the team on the pitch. He seemed to play through it better in the second half.
• Arsenal had several chances to make this match 2-0 and put three points in the bank after Nasri's goal in the 81st. Nasri probably should have had a brace, but elected to pass to Arshavin instead, who botched the chance. Arshavin has been quite off lately, so perhaps I should take back what I said earlier about his appearance on the bench.
• I don't want to watch the replay of Phillips's injury time equalizer, coming at 91:01. From what I recall, it was Bacary Sagna who failed to clear, and it was Manuel Almunia who failed to control the ball. Try to catch it next time, Manuel; don't lamely tap the ball upwards in the air so its backspin lets it land in your own net.
• Once at least third place is assured, if the title is completely out of reach (likely in a few weeks' time), I'd like to see Vito Mannone get another chance in goal.

Okay fellow Gooners. It's time to regroup and get ready for a huge clash with Barca on Wednesday. Iniesta is out for Barcelona, so there's some luck there on that front. Hopefully Cesc will be fine.

Keep the faith!