Bendtner defends Taylor tackle

Gunners striker stands up for former team-mate

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 25th February 2008

Nicklas Bendtner

Bendtner: Had a spell on loan at Birmingham

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Nicklas Bendtner insists that Martin Taylor is not a malicious player and would not have meant to hurt Eduardo.

The Arsenal striker saw his team-mate suffer an horrendous broken leg after a clumsy tackle from the Birmingham defender at St Andrews on Saturday, but fails to understand the criticism which has been levelled at Taylor.

Bendtner spent last season on loan with Blues and knows that the centre-back is not the sort of character who would purposely set out to injure a fellow professional.

Skills

"Eduardo showed good skills to go around one defender and used quick feet when he saw the other defender, but was taken out," he told Arsenal TV.

"The referee had no decision but to send Martin off. Due to being at Birmingham I know Martin is not a player like this though.

"But given what happened you can't say it was anything other than a red card.

"Eduardo is a strong character and good person. He's done really well at Arsenal and I hope he will be back as quickly as possible."

The injury compounded a miserable day for the Gunners in the West Midlands, as they also saw Gael Clichy concede a contentious late penalty which allowed Birmingham to grab a 2-2 draw.

The French full-back appeared to win the ball in a tangle with Stuart Parnaby, but referee Mike Dean pointed to the spot and Arsenal saw two vital points slip away in their bid to wrestle the Premier League title from Manchester united.

Mistake

"It was a terrible day because of all the things that happened, the injury and the decisions," Bendtner said.

"We're down because the (penalty) decision has had an effect on the title race.

"When you lose points because of a mistake from the referee and not because of the way you play, then it's even worse.

"The injury made it difficult but we knew we had to try and win the game because it was very important for us.

"We did everything we could but then a mistake from the referee cost us the game.

"From the replays it seems that the referee got it wrong. The ball was kicked really hard so obviously Gael got a touch on the ball.

"The linesman said nothing, so we feel hard done by. I'm really sorry the decision went against Gael.

"But the title race is still in our hands and we just have to do the best we can."