Arsene Wenger has spoken of his desire to heal the wounds of one of his most “traumatic” times in football management.

Arsenal meet Birmingham again tomorrow for the first time since the clash at St Andrew's in February 2008 when Eduardo broke his leg in a challenge with Martin Taylor and the Gunners surrendered a 2-1 lead as James McFadden scored a 95th-minute equaliser.

Arsenal could have gone eight points ahead at the top that day but subsequently collapsed as Manchester United lifted the Premier League title.

Tomorrow's game is at Emirates Stadium and Eduardo will be missing through injury, but Wenger believes it is a chance for his players to exorcise their ghosts.

“It was one of my most traumatic days,” said Wenger. “Everything that could have gone wrong went wrong in the last 10 minutes.

“That game was definitely the turning point in our season and it had a knock-on effect on the team.

“Symbolically, tomorrow's match is a chance for us to put things right but, remember, we have played another season since then.”

Cesc Fabregas is available despite missing Spain's midweek win over Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Fabregas was allowed to leave his national squad for “personal reasons” to be with his family in Barcelona but Wenger says his captain could feature in the meeting with Alex McLeish's men.

Along with Fabregas, goalkeeper Manuel Almunia may also make his first appearance for more than a month after recovering from a chest infection and is rated at “50-50” by Wenger to return.

Lukasz Fabianski is available after knee surgery should Almunia not make it. But French duo Abou Diaby and Gael Clichy are both out after picking up ankle injuries while on international duty.

Kieran Gibbs will fill in for Clichy at left-back with Wenger predicting that he could one day replace Ashley Cole in the England team.

Wenger said: “It's a big season for Kieran and I believe he has the quality to be England left-back.”

The Arsenal boss also confirmed that Sol Campbell trained with the club yesterday and said: “We won't be signing Sol but are happy to help him regain his fitness.”