By Andy Strouthous
December 3 2004

Birmingham rarely score more than one away from home, and their defence is only slightly better than Arsenal’s away form – 8 conceded compared to 11 by Arsenal.

But it shouldn’t be forgotten that their one, and only, away victory was at Liverpool.

Last season they provided the most boring match seen at Highbury, not entirely their fault, as Arsenal had won the league, and both sides were content with a draw.

In normal time you would expect Arsenal to skate this one, but maybe the team will try too hard. Plus Arsenal seem to be on a mission at the moment – a mission to give hope to teams down on their luck. Southampton, WBA and Liverpool have all benefited from their munificence.

I listened to Wenger’s press conference this evening, which, off course, has been sensationalised already with the emphasis on "crisis". He was referring to a results crisis, he made it clear that he has every faith in his players spirit and ability, and that he was not making a drama of it all. Good players had not become bad overnight; the gap between losing and not losing had been very narrow.

However two things he said may not be emphasised by the press:

1. Eight points had been lost in the last ten minutes of games.
2. Fifty per cent of goals had been conceded at free kicks.

Finally, and I was pleased to hear him argue that the team had to get back to doing things simply. This, I believe, is the key to it all, the team has a tendency to over elaborate, and then lose the ball, putting the defence under pressure.

If Arsenal get back to basics and concentrate on winning the ball they should get back to winning ways in no time.

Birmingham’s defence and the ignoble Savage will be no pushover, and Arsene cannot refresh the team, with Van Persie, Pennant, Bergkamp, and Cygan all injured. But the team has had a week off; the best preparation for Rosenborg is a convincing win, not foolhardy attempts to conserve energy that has cost us so dearly against lesser teams this season. The team must not ease off until victory is assured, mid week game coming up or not.