Bad things happened that day... Pic via News of the World.
St. Andrew's, Birmingham
Saturday, March 27
1500 GMT, 11:00 a.m. EDT
- Referee: Howard Webb
- This Match, Last Time: Birmingham City 2 - 2 Arsenal (February 23, 2008)
- All-Time in All Competitions: 57 Arsenal wins, 38 Birmingham City wins, 34 draws
- Arsenal's Recent Form: W-W-W-W-W-W
- Birmingham City's Recent Form: L-W-W-D-L-L
Predicted Line-Up
guesses italicized
Almunia
Sagna - Campbell - Song - Clichy
Fabregas - Denilson - Diaby
Nasri - Bendtner - Arshavin
Subs from: Fabianski, Silvestre, Traore, Eboue, Rosicky, Eduardo, Walcott
Out: Gallas (calf), Ramsey (leg), Gibbs (foot), Van Persie (ankle), Djourou (knee)
Suspended: Vermaelen (one game, denying an obvious goal scoring opportunity)
The Last Time (a.k.a. Don't Read This if You Don't Want Bad Memories)...
The Last Time (a.k.a. Don't Read This if You Don't Want Bad Memories)...
- Since Birmingham City was relegated to the Championship in 2008, then re-promoted to the Premier League last season, Arsenal has not played at St. Andrew's since February 23 of 2008, a fateful day chronicled below:
- Arsenal had a chance to go eight points clear at the top of the table.
- In the third minute, a dreadfully high, studs-up challenge from Birmingham defender Martin Taylor broke the left fibula of Eduardo, who also suffered an open dislocation of the ankle on the challenge. Taylor was, of course, sent off by referee Mike Dean.
- Much of the match continued gingerly for a while. Birmingham scored first, courtesy of a James McFadden free kick, and the Blues led 1-0 at the half.
- Arsenal equalized early in the second half, thanks to Theo Walcott's first career Premier League, coming on a third chance opportunity off a corner.
- Walcott scored his second six minutes later on a screamer of a shot after a bad clearance.
- Guardian's MBM at the time said "This has been a simply amazing response from the league leaders." Remember that...
- Arsenal continued to control play for a while, but then began to sit back until the third out of four minutes of stoppage time, when Birmingham was awarded a penalty when their striker was upended by Gael Clichy in the box. Highly questionable.
- McFadden converted the penalty and stole a point from the game, ending in a 2-2 draw.
- William Gallas, captain at the time, could not watch the penalty and decided to walk to the other end of the pitch and throw a temper tantrum. After the match, he sat in the center circle in tears, inconsolable for about four minutes before Arsene Wenger retrieved him.
- On that day, Arsenal's title hopes started to die.
- Arsenal drew the next three matches (Aston Villa, Wigan Athletic, Middlesborough), then lost the fourth (Chelsea) following the Birmingham draw. By that point, Arsenal had fallen to third.
- Arsene Wenger has already stated that Sol Campbell will start Saturday, still deputizing for the injured William Gallas. Who we see on Wednesday against Barcelona is anybody's guess.
- Who we see in place of the suspended Thomas Vermaelen is also anybody's guess. I have a little more faith in Alex Song, who played center back early in his career at Arsenal, than Mikael Silvestre.
- With Song slipping to the backline, I'd expect a midfield of Fabregas, Denilson, and Diaby. Or Rosicky, but he hasn't been starting lately.
- Nicklas Bendtner (ankle) and Andrei Arshavin (leg) are both a little banged up, but expected to be fine.
- Who knows, Emmanuel Eboue could start too. I can never figure out when and where Wenger is going to use Eboue.
- Arsenal have won six straight matches in the league, tying Chelsea for the Premier League season high streak.
- Arsenal's last seven match winning streak spanned from August 25 to October 20, 2007 and ended with a 1-1 draw at Anfield.
- Birmingham City, promoted to the Premier League after a one-year absence after finishing 2nd in the Championship last year, sit firmly mid-table, with 44 points, in ninth place.
- Birmingham City played mid-week, falling 2-1 at Blackburn Rovers on Wednesday.
- Birmingham have no fresh injuries in the squad; Gregory Vignal is trying to find his way back into the line-up, having recovered from a calf injury.
- Lee Carsley (ankle) and Garry O'Connor (hip) remain long term injuries.
- The Blues have dropped points in their last three matches, and have won only two of their last seven.
- They have earned draws at home against both Chelsea and Manchester United. These came while the Blues were the in-form team in the league, during a 12 match unbeaten run.
- That aforementioned 12 match unbeaten run for Birmingham started following their 3-1 loss to Arsenal at the Emirates in October. Robin van Persie, Abou Diaby, and Andrei Arshavin scored for Arsenal. RVP and Diaby scored two minutes apart (I was standing at the bar waiting to be served for both goals.) Lee Bowyer scored for Birmingham.
- Arsenal's last loss at St. Andrew's was a 2-1 defeat on May 15, 2005. Dennis Bergkamp equalized for the Gunners in the 88th, but Emile Heskey scored the winner in injury time.
- The referee is Howard Webb. For Arsenal this season, he has previously worked two matches, both victories over Liverpool. For Birmingham City, he worked a home loss to Aston Villa, and an FA Cup win at Everton.
- Saturday: Chelsea v. Aston Villa; Stamford Bridge, London
- Saturday: Hull City v. Fulham; KC Stadium; Kingston-upon-Hull
- Saturday: Tottenham v. Portsmouth; White Hart Lane, London
- Saturday: West Ham United v. Stoke City; Boleyn Ground at Upton Park, London
- Saturday: Wolves v. Everton; Molineux, Wolverhampton
- Saturday: Bolton v. Manchester United; Reebok Stadium, Bolton
- Sunday: Burnley v. Blackburn; Turf Moor, Burnley
- Sunday: Liverpool v. Sunderland; Anfield, Liverpool
- Monday: Manchester City v. Wigan; City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester
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