Wenger tells his Gunners it’s good to communicate

LONDON: Arsenal will attempt to get their Premier League title challenge back on track by beating Birmingham City today.

They will head to St Andrew’s with the words of manager Arsene Wenger ringing in their ears after surrendering two precious points to 10-man Wigan on Wednesday.

The Gunners, who had just beaten champions Chelsea 3-1 at the Emirates Stadium, were leading 2-1 thanks to goals from Andrey Arshavin and Nicklas Bendtner before Wigan, who were down to 10 men following the dismissal of Charles N’Zogbia, came back to draw 2-2 thanks to Sebastien Squillaci’s own goal.

That was the result of a poorly-defended setpiece and Wenger was highly critical of his players afterwards.

“Nobody looks from the outside to take charge on the organisation side,” he complained. “There is no voice when the focus drops a little bit.

“You don’t feel that anybody takes charge on alertness and we need to communicate much better than that,” the Frenchman added.

Arsenal captain Cesc Fabregas returns from suspension today, when the Gunners will kick off after the completion of leaders Manchester United’s lunchtime trip to West Bromwich Albion and second-place Manchester City’s home game with Blackpool.

That could leave them five points adrift and Fabregas was keen for referee Peter Walton and his assistants to be alert after a potentially match-winning penalty was missed at Wigan when a free-kick from Samir Nasri hit a defender’s upraised arm.

“Referees don’t want us to complain about them but they make life difficult for themselves,” the Spain international wrote on his Twitter account. “I’m not complaining at all, I’m just saying why on the same thing some refs say it’s a penalty and some not. Is it a rule or just what they feel?”

Birmingham are fighting a battle against relegation but will go into the game convinced they can give their fans an encouraging start to 2011.

Alex McLeish’s side have already beaten Chelsea and on Tuesday earned a 1-1 draw with Manchester United thanks to a late equaliser from Lee Bowyer, with United appealing in vain over a handball in the build-up.

It ended 1-1 when Arsenal went to St Andrew’s last season.