Arsenal striker Eduardo da Silva
suffered an horrific broken leg in the opening minutes of the
Premier League clash with Birmingham.
The Croatia international was challenged by Birmingham's Martin
Taylor in the third minute of the game at St Andrews with the
centre-back being shown an immediate red card by referee Mike
Dean.
Eduardo's clearly distressed team-mates immediately signalled to
the sidelines that urgent attention was required and the game was
held up for seven minutes as he received treatment on the
field.
The injury was deemed to be so serious that replays of the
incident were not shown on television.
Photographs of the challenge and the immediate aftermath suggest
the injury is similar to the break suffered by Manchester United
forward Alan Smith during their FA Cup defeat at Liverpool in
2006.
Eduardo is now facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines and is
certain to miss the remainder of this campaign and Croatia's Euro
2008 challenge in the summer.
After being stretchered off the field, he was immediately taken
to hospital for further treatment.
The Brazil-born striker moved to Emirates Stadium from Dinamo
Zagreb last summer and had scored 12 goals in his first 30
appearances for Arsene Wenger's side.
