Arsene Wenger has leapt to the defence of his captain William Gallas after the France international came in for criticism following his angry reaction to Birmingham’s equaliser on Saturday.

On a traumatic day for Arsenal that started with the players donning black armbands in memory of Bacary Sagna’s brother who had passed away, and then saw striker Eduardo da Silva suffer a career-threatening injury, The Gunners conceded a last-minute penalty to draw 2-2 at St Andrews.

It was too much for Gallas who stewed at the half-way line instead of preparing to defend his goal in case of a rebound, and when James McFadden dispatched from 12 yards the Gunners skipper kicked out at advertising hoardings and appeared to be on the brink of tears when slumping to the turf.

Gallas remained seated whilst his team-mates trudged off the field, their title hopes having suffered a blow, and only got to his feet when summoned by Wenger before continuing his angry tirade.

Wenger refused to criticise Gallas following the final whistle of a game that saw Arsenal’s players visibly affected by Martin Taylor’s challenge on Eduardo that left the Croatia international with a badly broken leg and requiring immediate surgery to potentially save his career.

“He [Gallas] was frustrated, he is a winner and sometimes you have to get your frustration out,” said Wenger in the News of the World.

“People want committed people who never react and probably he should not have reacted. But he did because he is a winner and he was frustrated.

“William did not kick anyone in the whole game. Tommorrow [Sunday] it will come out that William was crazy and Taylor gets away with it.

“Let’s analyse the real problems in the game. William didn’t kick at anyone, I’m not unhappy with him. I’m unhappy with what happened with the result.”

Wenger also had words of support for left back Gael Clichy who was at fault for conceding the penalty when a moment of inattentiveness allowed Stuart Parnaby to sneak into the box, even if his challenge on the Birmingham man appeared to connect with the ball.

“I don’t blame Clichy, he had a good game,” Wenger added. “He made a mistake just before the penalty but we were very unlucky with the decisions today.

“It was a very debatable penalty, it is very hard to take.”