Wenger admits Arsenal distress

Gunners find Eduardo injury 'very disturbing'

By Rob Parrish   Last updated: 29th February 2008

Birmingham v Arsenal Eduardo in agony

Eduardo: Horror injury

We are not in a club where hate is a culture in our club.

Arsene Wenger.
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Arsene Wenger has admitted Arsenal have found Eduardo da Silva's horror leg break 'very disturbing'.

The Gunners striker is facing at least nine months on the sidelines after Martin Taylor's third-minute challenge last weekend left him with a broken left fibula and dislocated ankle.

Wenger revealed the club are still coming to terms with what happened at St Andrews, and the Emirates Stadium boss appears unmoved by Taylor's clear remorse and subsequent apologies.

And the Frenchman has again reiterated his view that Arsenal are on the receiving end of more bad tackles than any other team in the Premier League.

Hate

He told Sky Sports News: "We have been affected by it and it was very disturbing.

"I believe, personally, that overall we don't know how to feel. We are not in a club where hate is a culture in our club.

"We want to get good things out of the game. We are always focused to get magnificent sides of the football out of our club.

"Therefore I don't know really what his (Taylor's) intent was and he has to deal with that now. I do not want to be involved in that.

"We want to keep our energy to support Eduardo and to focus on what we want to achieve until the end of the season and rest is not our problem any more.

"In the last three years we have been the team who has been fouled the most in the league. We have been the team who has made the least fouls and we are the team who has been punished more than any other in the league."

Signs are good

Wenger has spoken with Croatia international Eduardo on the phone, but is still to visit the stricken forward.

He said: "We haven't seen him yet because he was in Birmingham at first. I spoke to him on the phone and then he had to be transported to London and now he's at home."

When asked if he believed Eduardo would play again, he replied: "We think so.

"He is as good as you can be after surgery. The first signs are good because the first problems that could happen are infections and on that front it looks good."

Wenger pointed to the similar injury suffered by Abou Diaby in the Premier League clash at Sunderland in May 2006 as an example of what he feels is Arsenal being on the end of harsh treatment.

He added: "It was the second incident we have had like that. We had Diaby, which was less talked about, but he was out for nine months as well.

"It was a really, really bad tackle. We have gone through a lot."

Responsible

Wenger insists he should not be held be responsible for the death threats directed at Taylor, after retracting comments he made immediately after the match that the Birmingham defender should be banned for life.

He added: "I am responsible for what I say but I came out and retracted what I said. I didn't want to go overboard. I take that responsibility.

"But people who make death threats have to feel responsible for what they do. It is idiotic and not accepted but I do not want to be responsible for that."