Birmingham City 0 - 3 Arsenal: Bright Start to 2011

Samir Nasri laughs maniacally. Pic via Daily Telegraph.

Birmingham City 0
Arsenal 3: van Persie 13, Nasri 58, Johnson 65 (og)

I know the game was almost 48 hours ago, but I hope you'll excuse the lateness of this recap. I'm pretty sure I was still a touch hungover from New Year's Eve as late as yesterday, and if you saw me at the pub Saturday, you won't be shocked by that. Thankfully, there was no hungover performance from our beloved Gunners and 2011 started out about as well as you could have asked, at least in the one match they could control (I would've asked for United and City to drop points, but I'll take what I can get week in and week out. Also, thanks Villa.) Arsenal took to the road on New Year's Day to play at St. Andrew's, a stadium where their title hopes have gone to die the last two times they've played there. This time, however, there was no stopping, or even containing, the boys in red and white.

Remember when Arsenal made eight changes against Wigan from the side that beat Chelsea? Well, all eight changes were reversed on Saturday, as Arsenal started the same XI against the Blues at St. Andrew's as they had against the other Blues at the Emirates. You could tell this eleven was fresh and sharp, while Birmingham, who was unchanged from their draw against United on Tuesday, looked unable to keep up.

Much of the first half hour or so revolved around Robin van Persie. The Dutchman scored his first league goal of the season in the 13th minute, off a controversial free kick. Van Persie might have gone down a bit easily, sure, but there was still contact and his path was impeded. Soft call, but not absurd. The kick itself was hurtling straight at Birmingham's wall and would not have penetrated had the Blues not, for some reason, allowed Cesc Fabregas near one of the ends. He twisted away from the shot, which then caromed off a Blues defender (I think it was Lee Bowyer, or, as I will now call him, Stampy... you know, the elephant that Bart wins on The Simpsons?) and past a diving Ben Foster.

Van Persie was not out of the spotlight of controversy so quickly, however, as there were shouts for a handball in the penalty area a few minutes later. Total judgment call about intent in this situation, I think. Yes, it hit is arm, for sure. But to give the penalty, you have to be certain it was an intentional handball, and in this situation, van Persie had just missed heading the ball as it whizzed past him and deflected off his arm while jumping. So, intentional, I'm not so sure. I would not have been shocked or have felt wronged if it were given, though. Everything tends to even out in the game of football, and Birmingham scored their equalizer against United on Tuesday after a Zigic handball in the build-up, so the Blues evened out there. That does, however, ignore that those two calls were essentially +2 for Arsenal. But, shhh! Don't tell anyone.

The calls that did go against Arsenal, however, were the lenient decisions of referee Peter Walton. Birmingham, clearly outclassed by the Gunners all game, had to resort to physicality in order to have any chance at taking points on Saturday. Lee Bowyer escaped, at least momentarily, two straight red cards for stamps on Bacary Sagna. Roger Johnson saw only yellow for going in a bit rough on Fabregas (he did win the ball, I think yellow was right, I'm just using this example to illustrate Birmingham's physical play.) Cameron Jerome got away with a stamp on Laurent Koscielny just before half time in a situation where it looked like he knew exactly where he was pressing down with his foot.

Johnson's own goal finished Arsenal's scoring.

But, while Arsenal teams of recent years but have buckled under such intense physical pressure, this Arsenal team does not do such a thing. The only frustrating part of this match was, honestly, how long it took Arsenal to put Birmingham away, thanks to a bevy of missed opportunities. Van Persie should have made this match about 3-0 by the half, but is still a bit rusty coming back from injury and has missed a few golden chances in his last two matches. Arsenal finally got their cushion just before the hour mark, after some brilliant passing between Fabregas and Samir Nasri. As Fabregas proceeded to make his run into the box, Nasri pounded a low shot into the corner. Two-nil to the good, with a third coming seven minutes later after Fabregas pounded a shot from the by-line that was parried by Foster into the path of Roger Johnson, who allowed the fairly comical own goal.

At this point, Birmingham was finished and Arsenal continued to put on their football clinic. Birmingham had a shot hit the crossbar in injury time, but it did not go in, and Arsenal kept their first clean sheet since the 2-0 win at Molineux almost two months ago. That's huge for this team going forward, winning so comfortably at a notoriously difficult venue while keeping a clean sheet in the process.

It's seven points out of nine in the festive season, with a huge tilt against Manchester City coming up at the Emirates on Wednesday. I cannot possibly overestimate the importance of that game. Arsenal have set themselves up well, and if they continue to play like they did on Saturday, or last Monday against Chelsea, this team could go all the way. But that's a big if. Any slip in confidence could be disastrous. 10 points from 12 including six from six against title contenders is a fantastic four match spell, especially coming in the span of 10 days. So, let's get three more on Wednesday.

Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Samir Nasri

Preview: Birmingham City v. Arsenal

Arsene Wenger was very disappointed in Birmingham's late equalizer in March. Pic via Daily Mail.

St. Andrew's, Birmingham

Saturday, January 1

5:30 p.m. GMT, 12:30 EST

• Referee: Peter Walton
• This Match, Last Year: Birmingham City 1 - 1 Arsenal
• Reverse Fixture: Arsenal 2 - 1 Birmingham City
• All-Time in All Competitions: 58 Arsenal wins, 38 Birmingham wins, 35 draws
• Arsenal's Recent Form: L-W-W-L-W-D
• Birmingham's Recent Form: D-W-D-D-L-D

Predicted Line-Up

guesses in red

Fabianski

Sagna - Koscielny - Djourou - Clichy

Song - Wilshere

Walcott - Fabregas - Nasri

van Persie

Subs from: Szczesny, Squillaci, Denilson, Rosicky, Arshavin, Bendtner, Chamakh

Out: Diaby (calf), Gibbs (ankle), Almunia (ankle), Vermaelen (Achilles)

Arsenal News and Notes

• There are only two changes from the side that was available for Arsene Wenger on Wednesday.
• Cesc Fabregas returns from his one match suspension for accumulating five yellow cards.
• On the other hand, perpetually injured Abou Diaby injured his calf on Wednesday and will be out for at least three weeks.
• Kieran Gibbs should return in about a week or two. Manuel Almunia will be out possibly forever, at least in terms of his Arsenal career. It's still late January, at best, for Thomas Vermaelen.
• Wednesday's draw at Wigan was the fourth time this year Arsenal has dropped points in a match it was winning at one point (Sunderland away, Spurs at home, and Shakhtar Donetsk away in the Champions League were the other three.) That happened eight times last year, but never at home.
• Arsenal have not dropped points in consecutive league fixtures since late September to early October, a stretch that included a draw at Sunderland, a loss to West Brom, and a loss at Chelsea.

Birmingham News and Notes

• Birmingham, as they stood in October, have only one injury: James McFadden is out with an ACL injury.
• Alexander Hleb (never heard of him...) returned from a hamstring injury off the bench in Birmingham's 1-1 draw with Manchester United on Tuesday.
• Only Everton has won at St. Andrew's this year. Only Aston Villa and Bolton won there last year.
• Birmingham have only won three matches in the league this year, all at home, in 18 total played.

Match Facts

• Samir Nasri had what looked like the winner in the 81st minute of this fixture last year, but Kevin Phillips had Birmingham's equalizer in added time.
• Arsenal won the reverse fixture 2-1 in October. Birmingham scored first against the run of play, but Marouane Chamakh drew a penalty (converted by Nasri) then scored the winner on a beautiful move just after halftime.
• Birmingham have not beaten Arsenal in seven tries, though they have drawn three. Two of those draws have come at St. Andrew's and both Blues equalizers came in added time.
• 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

• The referee is Northamptonshire-based Peter Walton.
• This is Walton's first Arsenal match of the season. The last time Walton took charge of an Arsenal match, the Gunners won 3-1 at Stoke. Some bad things happened that day. Walton showed someone who may or may not be that type of player, depending on who you ask, a red card.
• He has not taken charge of any Birmingham matches this year either; the last Blues match he worked was their 2-1 win over Burnley in May.
• In 13 matches this year (11 Premier League, 2 Championship,) Walton has shown 41 yellow cards and 5 reds.

Around the League

• Saturday: West Bromwich Albion v. Manchester United; The Hawthorns, West Bromwich
• Saturday: Liverpool v. Bolton Wanderers; Anfield, Liverpool
• Saturday: Manchester City v. Blackpool; City of Manchester Stadium, Manchester
• Saturday: Stoke City v. Everton; Britannia Stadium, Stoke-on-Trent
• Saturday: Sunderland v. Blackburn Rovers; Stadium of Light, Sunderland
• Saturday: Tottenham Hotspur v. Fulham; White Hart Lane, London
• Saturday: West Ham United v. Wolverhampton Wanderers; Boleyn Ground, London
• Sunday: Chelsea v. Aston Villa; Stamford Bridge, London
• Sunday: Wigan Athletic v. Newcastle United; DW Stadium, Wigan

Arsenal 2 - 1 Birmingham City: Same Old Arsenal...

Sorry I jinxed you in this week's preview, Jack. Pic via BBC.

Arsenal 2: Nasri 41 (pen), Chamakh 47

Birmingham City 1: Zigic 33

When Arsenal plays Birmingham City, discussion always, at some point, goes back Martin Taylor's studs up challenge that broke Eduardo's leg in February of 2008. Saturday, the sickening tackle was provided by Jack Wilshere. But, more on that later... All in all, what we saw Saturday from the Gunners was, on the whole, unsurprising: a few creative plays matched by a lack of creative spark in the final third. Then again, three points are three points, and they were very necessary.

Arsenal made two changes to the side that lost 2-0 at Stamford Bridge two weeks ago, both necessitated due to injury: Bacary Sagna picked up a thigh injury at Chelsea and Laurent Koscielny picked up a back injury... somewhere... meaning Emmanuel Eboue started at right back and Johan Djourou paired with Sebastian Squillaci at center half. In good news, both Nicklas Bendtner (groin) and Theo Walcott (ankle) returned to the side and started on the bench.

The Gunners had a few chances to open the scoring that were unsuccessful; a series of 1-2's between Jack Wilshere and Marouane Chamakh set up the Moroccan with a great shot at goal, which was blocked brilliant by Stephen Carr. Then, in the 17th minute, Arsenal had an open goal canceled out by the assistant referee's flag, as he judged Squillaci to be offside when he headed in a Samir Nasri free kick. Replays were not very convincing. In the 24th, Gael Clichy had a chance at goal slide just wide after getting a look thanks to a defensive error.

Birmingham then picked up the opener against the run of play in the 33rd, as a Keith Fahey cross found the head of Nikola Zigic, who is about eleven feet tall. Zigic nodded home a perfect header, twisting away from Lukasz Fabianski and into the far bottom corner of the net. Brilliant stuff which was, thanks to Zigic's height, practically indefensible. The Blues almost picked up a second a few minutes later thanks to a breakdown on the Arsenal back line (which is happening at least once or twice per game now), but Zigic's shot at a brace was fired over the bar.

Arsenal equalized within ten minutes, but it was not without controversy. Scott Dann barely clipped Chamakh's foot as he passed him and Chamakh went flying; Martin Atkinson pointed to the spot, awarding a penalty. Was there contact? Some, yes. Did Chamakh embellish it? Absolutely. Though, there was nothing wrong with the spot kick itself, with Samir Nasri pounding a shot past Ben Foster, who had gone the wrong way, and Arsenal and Birmingham were on level terms at 1-1 at the half.

The Gunners took over the match right away in the second half and took the lead within two minutes of the restart, thanks to some brilliant footwork from Chamakh, as he dribbled around several defenders, forced Foster to dive, and worked himself to have an easy shot at a gaping net from along the by-line. Classy stuff and a brilliant finish, something Arsenal could really use more often.

And I say that because much of the script of the second half (as in the first) went the same way a lot of Arsenal games have gone this year (hence this recap's title.) For as much possession and control the boys in red and white may have in a match (it was 62% to Arsenal in this one), they seem to get flustered in the final third. When you are without Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, and Theo Walcott due to injury, a lot of that creative spark isn't on the pitch. The mercurial Andrei Arshavin might show flashes of brilliance, though this week, there were none from the Russian. Abou Diaby had a solid game in the central role, but never seems to pick out the right pass once he reaches the 18-yard box. Chamakh and Wilshere have combined for numerous chances this season, and Wilshere picked up the assist for Chamakh's goal. But, other than that, a ton of chances go begging. I've read Birmingham fans talk about how they deserved a point from this match, and they might be right, but this was largely so close because Arsenal often can't finish what they've started.

Now, on to the ugliness. Samir Nasri kneed a guy in the back. Emmanuel Eboue launched a scissor tackle on Liam Ridgewell. Both received only yellow cards. It wasn't all one sided, as Birmingham escaped penalty in the first half, shortly before Arsenal's goal, when Marouane Chamakh took an elbow to the head. But the stories are all coming from what happened in the 93rd as Jack Wilshere went in over the ball, foot raised, and studs showing into a challenge of Zigic. It was a terrible challenge and an obvious straight red card. It's a three match ban for violent conduct and Jack will be back domestically on November 7 against Newcastle (he'll miss two league fixtures and the fourth round of the Carling Cup.) He can play in Europe tomorrow.

As an Arsenal supporter, this is one of those situations you have to talk about while at the same time not being hypocritical. Zigic did not have his leg broken, but he could have. There are a few differences here from what Arsenal has had done to them in the past. Is Jack Wilshere that kind of player? Yes, in that he can occasionally get caught up in some recklessness caused by his youthful exuberance. But he's not flying into challenges solely trying to make sure the other guy can feel it, as we've seen from the likes of Karl Henry, Nigel de Jong, and of course, Ryan Shawcross. There have been too many instances where those players have not acknowledged being in the wrong. Jack has apologized, knows he was wrong, and will learn from this experience. He's come close to having some pretty bad challenges in the past this year, again, because he's young and in some instances, possibly trying to do more than he should. He has to learn not to cross that line. I think he will learn.

Oh, and as a passing note, what ever happened to Martin Taylor after the Eduardo incident? Well, he scored for Watford on Saturday.

Preview: Arsenal v. Birmingham City

Robin van Persie opened the scoring in this fixture last year. Pic via Guardian.
 
Emirates Stadium, London

Saturday, October 16

15:00 BST, 10:00 a.m. EDT

• Referee: Martin Atkinson
• This Match, Last Year: Arsenal 3 - 1 Birmingham City
• All-Time in All Competitions: 57 Arsenal wins, 38 Birmingham wins, 35 draws
• Arsenal's Recent Form: W-W-W-D-L-L
• Birmingham's Recent Form: W-D-D-L-D-L

Predicted Line-Up

guesses in red
updated Friday

Fabianski
Eboue - Djourou - Squillaci - Clichy
Song - Denilson
Wilshere - Nasri - Arshavin
Chamakh

Subs from: Szczesny, Gibbs, Diaby, Rosicky, Bendtner, Walcott, Vela
Out: Koscielny (back) Sagna (thigh), Almunia (elbow), Fabregas (hamstring), Vermaelen (Achilles), Walcott (ankle), Van Persie (ankle), Ramsey (broken leg)

Arsenal News and Notes

• Still no Cesc Fabregas. Maybe midweek in the Champions League.
• Still no Manuel Almunia either, so let's pray for another solid showing from Fabianski. Is three in a row asking for too much from an Arsenal 'keeper with a... ahem, history?
• Thomas Vermaelen and Bacary Sagna are each about ten days away from returning, which could put them short for the trip to Manchester City on the 24th. How lovely.
• Laurent Koscielny has picked up a back injury in training and will not appear in this match.
• Am I more sarcastic than normal in this preview so far? It has been a while since we've posted; thank you, international break.
• Good news is the returning list: Nicklas Bendtner is back! So is Kieran Gibbs! Theo Walcott passed his fitness test and returns as well. Probably at least two more weeks for Striker van GlassAnkle Robin van Persie. Aaron Ramsey is back in training! HUZZAH!
• Arsenal have dropped points in three straight league matches for the first time since dropping points in four straight toward the end of last season.
• Arsenal has lost two straight, a fate they suffered four times last year, but they never lost three straight. You would have to go back to March 18 to April 7, 2007 for the last time Arsenal lost three straight league fixtures. They finished with only 68 points that year, 21 points off the pace.

Birmingham News and Notes

• The Blues only have one injury! I am so jealous! James McFadden is out for a while with an ACL injury.
• Birmingham have only won once in seven fixtures this year, but they've also drawn four.
• Their home loss to Everton two weeks ago was their first such loss at home in over a year.
• However, they have not won a league fixture away from home since a 2-1 win at Portsmouth on March 9.

Match Facts

• Arsenal won this fixture 3-1 last year: Arsenal scored twice in two minutes to take a 2-0 lead, Lee Bowyer pegged one back for the Blues before Arshavin sealed the points in the 84th. Vito Mannone started in goal for the Gunners.
• This fixture also happened to be the exact same weekend last year. How weird!!
• Birmingham City has not won in their last six league attempts against Arsenal, though they have drawn three. The last two of those draws, both at St. Andrews, came with the Blues equalizing dramatically in injury time.
• Birmingham have not won at Arsenal since a 3-1 win on October 19, 1957. Since then, Arsenal has won 17 times at home against the Blues and have drawn nine.

The Referee

• The referee is Martin Atkinson.
• The last time Arsenal saw Atkinson, he was the fourth official at Sunderland, when there were 842 extra seconds was a controversial amount of injury time allowed the Black Cats to equalize. Then, Arsene Wenger shoved him and got suspended for a match.
• He has also been involved in the officiating crew in the last three instances where an Arsenal player has been shown a red card. So, looks like someone's getting sent off Saturday. Any bets? I'm taking Jack Wilshere.

Around the League

• Saturday: Bolton Wanderers v. Stoke City; Reebok Stadium, Bolton
• Saturday: Fulham v. Tottenham Hotspur; Craven Cottage, London
• Saturday: Manchester United v. West Bromwich Albion; Old Trafford, Manchester
• Saturday: Newcastle United v. Wigan Athletic; St. James' Park, Newcastle uponTyne
• Saturday: Wolverhampton Wanderers v. West Ham United; Molineux, Wolverhampton
• Saturday: Aston Villa v. Chelsea; Villa Park, Birmingham
• Sunday: Everton v. Liverpool; Goodison Park, Liverpool
• Sunday: Blackpool v. Manchester City; Bloomfield Road, Blackpool
• Monday: Blackburn Rovers v. Sunderland; Ewood Park, Blackburn

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!

Preview: Birmingham City v. Arsenal

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)...

• 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.

Arsenal News and Notes

• 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 News and Notes

• 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.

Match Facts

• 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.

Around the League

• 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