ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE Birmingham City 1 Arsenal 1:ARSENE WENGER criticised the playing surface, claimed Birmingham City were only capable of scoring via a long ball, suggested their goal was offside, unfairly accused Craig Gardner of a "bad tackle" on Cesc Fabregas, argued some of Arsenal's yellow cards were harsh and moaned about Alex McLeish celebrating a late equaliser on the pitch. The list of complaints felt endless and it was tempting to wonder what the excuses will be if Barcelona win at the Emirates on Wednesday.

As Martin O’Neill mentioned a couple of months ago, when Wenger attacked Aston Villa’s style of play following a frustrating recent goalless draw, if Arsenal fail to win it is always seems to be somebody else’s fault.

Kevin Phillips, whose injury-time goal sent the Arsenal manager into meltdown, summed it up when he was asked about the frustration that spilled over at times from the visitors’ bench.

“Come on, I know who you’re talking about, but that’s par for the course, isn’t it? They always feel hard done by.”

Wenger’s patience was understandably going to be stretched by the sight of Arsenal conceding a last-gasp equaliser, just like they did in the same fixture two seasons ago, when Eduardo da Silva broke his leg. Yet the reality is Wenger was a man struggling to contain his emotions long before he walked into a press conference with a face like thunder and responded with some industrial language to a question about his insinuation that Gardner was not the only Birmingham player to make a poor challenge.

His post-match behaviour was out of character for one of the Premier League’s most erudite managers and provided an indication of the pressure Wenger is feeling as he digested a result that not only damages Arsenal’s title hopes, but also leaves him with a problem on his hands before Barcelona as he seeks to lift morale.

“It’s always hard to pick the players up, when you get caught like that,” said Wenger. “It is very difficult when we know we have no room for error at all. So it was a big disappointment for us. It feels like a defeat.”

A couple of key moments denied Arsenal the chance to be the first team to win at St Andrew’s since September. Firstly, Samir Nasri, who had given Arsenal the lead with a low drive across Joe Hart in the 81st minute, opted to square the ball instead of shooting when one-on-one with the Birmingham goalkeeper in the closing seconds.

Secondly, Manuel Almunia made a terrible hash of trying to keep out Phillips’s 250th career goal, after Bacary Sagna’s attempted clearance ricocheted off the Birmingham striker.

Wenger, however, was too preoccupied with other matters to subscribe to the view that Arsenal had been masters of their own downfall. “I think the place [St Andrew’s] is very hostile, but what is most important is the pitch is terrible,” said the Arsenal manager.

The playing surface at St Andrew’s is certainly poor, and would arguably have impacted more on Arsenal’s artists than Birmingham’s artisans, but Wenger was doing McLeish’s side a disservice when he claimed a punt upfield was the only way they would have scored.

Birmingham worked assiduously to close Arsenal down but, when in possession, they combined a high-tempo approach with some sharp, one-touch passing at times. “I thought we played some excellent stuff,” said Phillips.

They also wasted a wonderful chance to take the lead, when Scott Dann inexplicably lifted the ball over the crossbar from no more than two yards after Roger Johnson’s volley came back off the upright. Arsenal, in fairness, were not without their own opportunities. Theo Walcott and Andrey Arshavin squandered decent openings before Fabregas, who hopes to recover in time to face Barcelona despite taking a blow just below the knee, when Gardner caught him in the follow-through of a hard but fair challenge, stung Hart’s hands with a free-kick.

Had that gone in Wenger would have approached Barcelona with a spring in his step but the combination of Phillips’s persistence and Almunia’s faux pas left the Arsenal manager crestfallen as McLeish ran on to the pitch as if Birmingham had won the league.

“I have a lot of respect for Arsene Wenger,” said McLeish. “He’s a bad loser and so am I.”

Guardian Service