Clichy and Gallas cost us the title last season, insists Arsenal's Rosicky

The Czech Republic midfielder says the duo cost Arsene Wenger's side the title after making mistakes in the Gunners 2-2 draw with Birmingham on February 23, reports The Sun.

Arsenal were leading 2-1 before Eduardo was stretchered off with a horrific leg injury following a challenge by Martin Taylor.

Blame game: Rosicky says mistakes by Clichy and Gallas ended Arsenal's hopes.

But Clichy then gave away a penalty following a clumsy tackle on Stuart Parnaby and James McFadden converted to deny Arsenal the win.

Gallas, who was upset with the spot-kick decision, then bizarrely staged a sit-down protest on the pitch after the final whistle.

Rosicky : 'I remember the Birmingham game and what happened to Eduardo. The lads were winning 2-1 but then in the last minute Gael gave away a really stupid penalty.

'At the same time, he played brilliantly all season. He improved immensely and turned into a great defender as a result. But he messed up that day.

'I don’t think something similar would happen to him now, because he’s a lot more experienced. But it was definitely a match we should have won by a long way.

'We were leading and we even had another huge chance to score. I think it was Bendtner and Adebayor who were bearing down on goal, but Adebayor shot instead of passing and missed.

'There were an awful lot of other similarly negative things happening. Everything began with Eduardo’s injury. Then came Gael’s error and that thing with William.

'You could say that was probably where the ground started to crumble beneath our feet.”

Rosicky, 27, has, however, backed Gallas to lead Arsenal as skipper this season and believes the events of last term will have been good experience for the younger members of the squad..

'It was not an easy situation. On the other hand, it was William’s first season as captain and it’s not easy to wear the armband in a team like this,'said who is due to return to action next month after a knee injury.

Distraught: Gallas with manager Arsene Wenger.

'I think he will have learned. There were things he could have done better — but he knows that better than anyone else.

'He’s really immersed in everything and that was something he just got immersed in too deeply.

'But otherwise he’s a good leader in my opinion and he will continue to be captain even though there was speculation about that.'

'We’re more experienced now, precisely because of what we have gone through. We took a huge step forward.

'At the end of last season, we finished just four points behind the winners Manchester United.

'I’ve already said we will be competing for the title even though people don’t have much confidence in us. It was the same situation a year ago, when Thierry Henry left.

'He was a much bigger icon than the lads who have gone now — and we coped with that.'

Rosicky has also tipped Theo Walcott to make a big impact following the departure of Alexander Hleb’s exit.

He added: 'There’s now a hole for him to fill. On the wings, we have myself, Nasri and Walcott. We can play anywhere, plus Walcott can easily play in attack even though Van Persie and Adebayor are the obvious choices if they’re fit.

'Walcott is terribly unpredictable with his speed. Occasionally he lacks a little calmness but people always forget he’s only 19.

'When he plays well, they say he’s like Maradona. Then he has two bad games and they write he’s not improving at all and that he is stagnating. The truth is somewhere in between.'