Give us a break, Arsene.

Byline: Colin Tattum

IF IT wasn't the tackle, it was the chants. It seems that every time Arsenal and Blues come together, the Eduardo incident looms large.

Liam Ridgewell's hard, sliding tackle on Theo Walcott has put the England starlet out of action for three to four weeks.

Arsene Wenger didn't like it, but then again, tackling per se is almost anathema to him.

A song by Blues fans at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday in support of Martin Taylor was heard when Walcott was off the pitch receiving treatment.

Wenger didn't like that, either.

Atrocious, low, stupid was how he described it.

Wenger's right in this instance. The chant was in bad taste and it did show a lack of intelligence to sing it at such a moment.

What has to be understood, though, is that Blues fans who went to Arsenal didn't do so with an agenda to mock Eduardo's awful injury.

Certainly they could have refrained from the "there's only one Martin Taylor" after Ridgewell's early challenge, which eventually resulted in Walcott's later substitution. Some loons saw an opportunity to be "clever".

But in the main, Blues fans were supporting one of their own. A decent, honest footballer and bloke called Martin Taylor.

The way Taylor was pilloried for the tackle that left Eduardo with a broken leg and dislocated ankle at St Andrew's in February 2008 has not been forgotten in these parts.

Wenger's comments about Taylor being banned from the game were terrible and remember his apology, on reflection, was half-hearted.

It was made out that Taylor didn't go to see Eduardo, which he did. And it was made out that Taylor didn't apologise.

Taylor was sorry for the extent of the damage to Eduardo but did not apologise for the tackle, and quite rightly so - because it was not premeditated, it was clumsy rather than malicious.

Blues fans chanted "there's only one Martin Taylor" in the immediate weeks afterwards when he was receiving death threats and portrayed as "the Butcher of Birmingham" by the Croatian media.

They sang it this pre-season and before Ridgewell's tackle at the Emirates, and towards the end of the game. Ridgewell, lest we forget, has just returned from a broken leg himself. The challenge by Plymouth Argyle's Jamie Mackie in April after he had cleared the ball was dubious.

No song and dance was made, unsurprisingly. There isn't the same spotlight on the Championship or Blues, unless they are perceived to be the transgressors.

Arsenal's ethereal football and philosophy on how the game is played is to be admired.

Yet that and Eduardo's injury shouldn't automatically allow them or their manager to shift into self-righteousness indignation every time they come across Blues.