Arsène Wenger issued a retraction late on Saturday night after saying repeatedly that Martin Taylor, the Birmingham City defender, should be banned for life for the tackle that broke Eduardo da Silva’s left leg. Birmingham players were angry at the Arsenal manager’s stance after the 2-2 draw at St Andrew’s on a day that finished with Wenger’s side three points clear of Manchester United at the top of the Barclays Premier League.

Eduardo underwent surgery at Selly Oak hospital in Birmingham after the game and was transferred to a London hospital yesterday. Arsenal will issue a statement today giving more details about the injury, believed to be a double fracture, and the striker’s prognosis. Taylor visited Eduardo yesterday morning at Selly Oak to speak to him and pass on his best wishes.

“It was a highly emotional afternoon and we were all shocked by the injury,” the Arsenal manager said. “On reflection, my comments about Martin Taylor were excessive. I said what I did immediately after the game in the heat of the moment.”

In interviews with radio, television and the press about 45 minutes after the final whistle, Wenger called for Taylor to be banned for life and compared him to a murderer.

“The guy should never play again,” Wenger said. “This is the result of a very bad tackle that is not forgivable. People will always use the excuse that the guy is not a dirty player and that he did not mean it. It is like a guy who kills one time in his life. It is enough. You have a dead person. It is horrendous. Can you watch the tackle again and say this guy has played the ball? It is a joke and not acceptable.”

Birmingham’s players reacted sharply to Wenger’s initial comments. “He is an intelligent man and it is scandalous to be saying things like that,” James McFadden, who scored both his side’s goals, said. “It was ridiculous for a manager of his stature to be saying a player should never play again. Comments like that shouldn’t ever be bandied about in football because you can see [Taylor] has not tried to injure the player and he doesn’t have a history of being malicious. He is a gentle giant.”

Liam Ridgewell, the Birmingham defender, said: “We will rally round Martin and try and help him. He is in a bad way. If he had meant it he wouldn’t have been in such a bad way. He is deeply sorry but it was a freak accident. He had tears in his eyes but we will get round him on Monday and help him.”

Nicklas Bendtner, the Arsenal forward who was on loan at Birmingham last season, said of Taylor: “He’s really calm. He’s not one who goes in to hurt people, never.”

Wenger said that his team will not change their style, even though, in his words, “the idea has been going around that to stop us you have to kick us. It is beyond belief. There is a fine line between being competitive and over the top.”

His claim that opponents adopt an extraphysical approach only partially stacks up. This season, 11 Premier League teams have been fouled more often than Arsenal, who get an average of about 13 free kicks per match. But those fouls may be more severe than normal: 12 sides average more yellow and red cards against Arsenal than against other teams.