It has been a troubling week for Arsène Wenger as he coped with the fallout from the horrific injury to Eduardo da Silva, the Croatia striker. Yet the Arsenal manager has lost none of his fighting spirit and yesterday he launched an impassioned attack on the perceived victimisation of his team.

Wenger did not mention Birmingham City, whose physical approach earned them a 2-2 draw against Arsenal at St Andrew's last weekend. Nor did he pick out Martin Taylor, the Birmingham defender whose tackle broke Eduardo's left leg. Wenger appears to have accepted, albeit reluctantly, Taylor's claim that the incident was an accident.

What has incensed Wenger is the apparently habitual method in which opposing teams set out to prevent Arsenal, the Barclays Premier League leaders, from playing their free-flowing football. It owes little to science, Wenger said, more to illegal and often brutal tactics.

“The basic problem in this league is that, for the past three years, we are the team that has committed fewer fouls than any other team, the team who is fouled more than any other team, the team who is punished more than any other team. And I do not read that anywhere.

“I should invite you sometimes to come into the dressing-room and look at the legs of [Alexander] Hleb after a game. You would be amazed. But what is happening is not a surprise to us.

“How many times did I sit in a press conference and hear ‘oh, they got in your face today and you did not find an answer'? We try to play football. The guys you should ask this question to is not me, it is the opposition manager.”

Wenger did not mention the 72 sendings-off of Arsenal players since he took charge of the club in September 1996, including four red cards this season. Yet it would seem that his team do attempt to play fair more than most. Arsenal have committed 282 fouls this season, more than Manchester City (277) and Manchester United (273) but fewer than the rest.

“We never play with hate,” Wenger said. “It's not our culture. We play with the desire to win. If you meet one player in my career who I have asked to kick somebody, then I would like you to introduce him to me.

“Don't get me wrong, there are a lot of things I love here: the passion, the commitment. I do not want England to lose that because that is above every other country in the world. But it is in the hands of the referee to protect, to make the distinction between how far you can go and what you cannot.”

Wenger made a fragile peace with Taylor after talking to him at St Andrew's. It led the Frenchman to retract his immediate post-match comments that the central defender should be banned for life. However, Taylor received death threats.

“The incident happened and we want to deal with it in a serene way,” Wenger said. “Why it happened is down to Martin Taylor. He told me he didn't do it intentionally so I gave him the benefit of the doubt. Only he knows so, if he is genuine, I don't want him to be singled out. I said what I said in the heat of the moment but I took responsibility to retract it. But, I am not taking responsibility for idiotic people who send death threats.”

During an emotional week, Wenger has also had to deal with William Gallas, the Arsenal captain. It was Gallas who staged a bizarre sit-down protest on the pitch after the draw, but he will lead the team against Aston Villa at the Emirates Stadium this afternoon.

“Ideally, he should not have responded like that,” Wenger said. “But he is a guy who is highly committed and sometimes, when he goes overboard, he can respond like that. He's an explosive one. But you want people in this job who care and that is William. He cares about winning.”