Scott Dann's fury over Blues' penalty

Birmingham defender Scott Dann has insisted Marouane Chamakh's dive to win a penalty was the turning point in their defeat at Arsenal.

With Blues leading through a Nikola Zigic effort at the Emirates Stadium, the Gunners were handed a controversial spot kick when Chamakh went down inside the box despite what looked like minimal contact from Dann.

Samir Nasri converted and the Gunners went on to win the game 2-1, Chamakh rubbing salt into the wounds with a winner.

Dann said: "I slid in and stopped the ball going into Jack Wilshere's path. I was too far away from it to kick it again. I didn't touch him. Definitely not.

"It's a bit of a tough decision for the ref, but he's conned him and he's already on his way down before he's even come near my foot. It definitely changed things, a lot."

The result left Blues 17th in the table and Dann admits things have to improve - starting against Blackpool at St Andrew's on Saturday.

He said: "It's never nice to be that far down the table. We know what we're capable of and I'm sure the next few games - starting this week - we will begin to move up the table and pick up points.

"We've been a bit unfortunate at times but we've not played as well as we'd have liked either. It's just about getting that right.

"We've all got to stick together."