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What a strange game football can be. The best player on the pitch today committed a catastrophic mistake deep into injury time that could end up endlessly replayed as ‘the moment’ that Arsenal allowed Manchester United back into the title race. Meanwhile, over on the other wing, Arsenal’s least effective player scored two goals that should have given Arsenal a comfortable victory. But all of this was overshadowed by an early challenge that saw Birmingham’s Martin Taylor sent off and ended Eduardo’s season as a minimum.

Sky, ever keen to take the moral high ground, spent much of the first half telling us how responsible they were for not showing the challenge, but the faces of Arsenal’s players told the story all too vividly. Hleb looked struggling to avoid vomiting, Fabregas utterly shocked. All we can hope for is that Eduardo recovers sufficiently to play again. It was that bad.

In this context, salvaging a draw could normally be considered positive, but having overcome the shock of Eduardo’s injury, Arsenal dominated the second half, scored twice in quick succession through Theo Walcott’s first two league goals and could have had more. Adebayor, in particular, wasted a great chance when Bendtner was better placed to score into an open net. Costly.

Premier League managers are obliged to do the rounds with the press after games, but today was not the day to be speaking to Arsene Wenger after the game. His comments about the tackle on Eduardo, calling for Taylor to never play again, were understandable but clouded by emotion and proximity to seeing one of his charges seriously hurt. It isn’t fair to interview someone in these circumstances.

This weekend will still end with Arsenal on top, but it does feel like a turning point. And not a good one at that.

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