The days leading up to the game at Birmingham were trying times for all Gooners. Firstly there was the FA Cup humiliation at the hands of the Mancs where, for whatever reason, the team that took the pitch at Old Trafford never really turned up at all. Throw in another shocking piece of unsporting behaviour from the embarrassment that is Emmanuel Eboue and you can guarantee it was an evening we would much, much rather forget.

The Champions League game at home to AC Milan showed a vast improvement in both performance and spirit as the boys huffed and puffed at an aging Milan defence but couldn’t quite find the back of the net (maybe they were daunted by the sheer size of the Italian team’s third choice keeper Kalac - how big was he?!) The lack of a goal to take to the second leg at the San Siro means that the tie very much hangs in the balance, and although we are far from out of Europe’s elite competition, we all know deep down in our red and white hearts it’s going to be a tough night.

This brings me to Saturday’s game at St. Andrews, in which the players knew they had a great chance to open up an eight point advantage over our nearest challengers at the top of the league. I am sure that I was not alone in thinking ‘no problem’; however, three minutes in and THAT tackle on Eduardo happened, suddenly everything changed.

Much has been said in the media already regarding the challenge, I must admit in real-time and from the initial camera angle it looked fairly innocuous. Having seen replays from other angles alongside the still pictures in the press, I have to say that each time I see it, it just gets worse. I have no doubts that all Gooners were deeply saddened to see Eduardo being stretchered off of the pitch in such distress and are as concerned as Arsene Wenger clearly is. What this will mean for the future career of our newly-discovered ‘fox in the box’? Let’s wish him a speedy, full recovery and hope he’s back up front alongside Adebayor, banging in the goals next season.

As upset as the fans were, we can only imagine what the feelings of Eduardo’s team-mates were during what remained of the first half. We all saw Cesc’s reaction of sheer horror and his pleas for the physios to act quickly in offering medical attention to the injured player. Unsurprisingly the team struggled to find its rhythm and, instead, found themselves going into the break a goal down. A tough half-time team talk indeed for Wenger, but the second half performance gave unquestionable evidence that he delivered and thanks to two fabulously taken goals from the boy wonder Theo (is this the beginning of his much-anticipated coming of age?) we found ourselves in front and firmly in control.

So it continued into stoppage time, we had fashioned a few chances to grab a third but never really pushed for it. Nevertheless I felt that we wouldn’t need the third, although I did let out a huge groan when Maik Taylor pushed Ade’s shot around the post with Bendtner well placed for a simple square ball and a possible tap-in. Seconds to go and somehow the ball found its way back into our box and despite having what seemed a thorough look around Clichy failed to spot Parnaby who nicked the ball away from our usually so reliable left-back. Such is Clichy’s recovery speed that he switched on to the situation and made a very decent (legal) challenge to flick the ball away from the Birmingham man who went down like a ton of bricks… penalty.

Again it took television replays for me to see William Gallas’ reaction to this decision and I was not aware of the situation until the Sky cameras showed pictures of our captain shaking his head and positively seething with rage near the dugouts. Having watched the replays, which I am sure we all have, as the penalty is given you can see Gallas absolutely, uncontrollably explode with anger. A reaction that was pretty much repeated as the ball hit the back of our net for a (thoroughly undeserved) last gasp equaliser for a team who had been chasing their tails for the past 45 minutes, cue big Willy giving the advertising hoardings a taste of the full force of his boot.

The final whistle was blown seconds after the restart and as the teams did the customary hand-shaking, Gallas sunk to the floor and stayed rooted to the spot, head down. Attempts were made to pull him up, first by an opposing player and then by a member of the Arsenal staff, but Gallas simply shook his head and remained defiant. Those of you who were watching on Sky, as I was, were then ‘treated’ to voiceover from Richard Keys telling Gallas to get up, and ‘sort yourself out son’. Much has been made of Keys’ leaning towards a certain team from Manchester and as he began insulting our captain my blood began to boil. It took the sight of Le Boss strolling over for Gallas to rise to his feet and even then he had plenty to say to his gaffer as he trudged off. Let’s hope if they do bring in a lip-reading specialist that he or she doesn’t speak French!

During the post-match analysis Keys continued to question the actions of Gallas, as did his on hand ‘expert’ in the studio David Platt. Platt’s main argument was that Gallas was not ‘doing his job’ and that he should have, calm as you like, carried on with the game before quietly leaving the pitch to deal with Clichy in the dressing room. Now whilst this method has its merits, I have to admit that the actions of Gallas on Saturday made me proud.

The decision to promote Gallas to captain was highly questionable last summer, but Arsene proved that he does indeed know and now it looks like a masterstroke. Gallas is a superb leader both on and off the pitch and has installed a deep camaraderie between the players and, from what I can see, is providing a real voice for Wenger on the pitch, during the hustle and bustle of the game. So in my opinion our captain knows exactly what his job is and has risen to the task manfully. However, I think that our number 10 has also added another, over-riding, facet to his job description and that is to lead us to winning trophies.

Gallas knew that for a while there we had all but increased our lead to eight points on Fergie’s men and then thrown it away. He knows we’re going to need some points in the bag for a tricky bunch of fixtures including trips to Old Trafford and Stamford Bridge. He knows that the fans, the players, the manager and all at the club having a real burning ambition to see our group of young guns claim the Premier League title, the football we play deserves it. In my humble opinion (whisper it quietly!) if we don’t win the title, in Gallas’ mind – the buck stops with him. To see the former Chelsea man showing such passion on the pitch for our cause, and being the physical embodiment of what we were all feeling as the ball rocketed past Almunia from the penalty spot, is the one real positive that we can take out of a troubling week.

In his post-match press conference Wenger briefly commented that ‘William was very frustrated’ and I can imagine at some point that Gallas himself will come out and apologise for his actions. In my mind - and I am sure the sentiment is shared by a large number of Gooners - no apology is necessary. I want my club captain to care, and I don’t mean care about his next contract negotiations or his next addition to his luxury car-pool, but to have a real desire to win and a willingness to lead all around him to the glory that they can achieve.

It may not have been pretty and I sincerely hope that the circumstances never arise again for Willy to ‘absolutely lose his s**t’ on the pitch but I’m glad he did, he has restored my faith in the beautiful game and what it can still mean to those who are fortunate enough to play it. It also gives me hope that those two points dropped on a ‘stormy Saturday’ won’t be as costly as I fear, if a certain Monsieur Gallas has his way!