Wenger: 'We cannot complain about red card'

The big talking point from Saturday was Jack Wilshere's red card.

He mistimed his tackle and he got what he deserved. But it was his first tackle in the game and you have to acknowledge that he didn't spend the whole game kicking people. He played football and was one of the best players on the football pitch.

Unfortunately he committed a bad challenge but I think it was borne of frustration, he mistimed his tackle. We do not complain about his red card but you cannot say he had a dirty game.

Aside from the sending off Jack showed that he is a complete player. He played defensively well, offensively well, and I believe that overall he had a very good game, a very influential game. He was very reliable defensively and very creative going forward.

Overall it was imperative to get the three points against Birmingham. I believe we played quite nervously - you could see our fluency was affected by the fact that we had not won for two games. We played a little bit with the handbrake in the final third, especially when we were 2-1 up, and it was never comfortable.

When we went 1-0 down it was backs to the wall considering the state of the Premier League table. We had absolutely to win so it was even more difficult to concede first, but I cannot fault anybody too much on the goal we conceded because it was a wonderful header like we used to see in England 30 or 40 years ago. There's not a lot you can do about that.

Marouane Chamakh scored the winner and since the beginning of the season, if you look at how many times he has been decisive at 0-0 or 1-1, you will be surprised. He is very influential in the team.

It was good to have Nicklas Bendtner back from injury but he doesn't look completely ready yet. He needs a few more weeks. He has not played regular football for a long time and you do not come back straight away like that into top-level competition.