On seeing the horrific scenes of Saturday’s premiership game between Arsenal and Birmingham all I can say is that Martin Taylor should never put on a football shirt again. The ferocity and out and out disgracefulness of his tackle that left Eduardo da Silva with a horrific injury has turned the Premiership on its head.  

Wenger said last night: “The minimum is that Eduardo’s season is over and we are scared that it is much worse. The first diagnosis is very, very bad. He appears to have broken his shin, fibula and ankle.”This guy [Taylor] should never play again. What happened goes along with the view that to stop Arsenal, you have to kick Arsenal. I knew that something like this would happen some day.”They always say that he [the offender] is not that kind of player, but if a guy kills one time in his life, it’s enough — you have a dead person. It was a horrendous tackle. If this is football, it is better to stop it.” Taylor, who was sent off by referee Mike Dean for his challenge on Eduardo and faces an automatic three-match ban, was defended by City manager Alex McLeish. 

“Everyone knows Taylor is not a dirty player, Eduardo was just too quick for him. It wasn’t even a high challenge. The contact came down on the ankle. We’re devastated for the lad and Martin is distraught as well. It’s not in his make-up to commit a malicious tackle.” Sky Television, who covered the match live, took the immediate decision not to show replays of the injury.Match director Grant Best said: “The reaction of Cesc Fabregas told me it was a bad injury so I quickly looked at the replay.

“That told me it was a very bad injury and we weren’t going to show it. It looked like his foot was hanging from his leg. It is the most horrific injury I have seen in 13 years of working in football and it reminded me immediately of David Busst’s injury.” Coventry player Busst never played a meaningful match again after his leg was shattered in a 1996 collision with Manchester United players Denis Irwin and Brian McClair.

Wenger added that the injury affected his team’s performance in the first half, giving James McFadden the chance to fire Birmingham ahead.After the break, two Theo Walcott goals, his first for Arsenal in the Premier League, appeared to have clinched a win but McFadden levelled with a last-minute penalty after Gael Clichy was judged to have brought down Stuart Parnaby. 

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