Taylor has been left "emotionally shattered" by the incident (Getty)

"We've had to rally round him because he's been mentally shattered by it.

"He's had some phenomenal e-mails of support and that's helped him psychologically," said McLeish.

Taylor was sent off for Saturday's second-minute tackle that left the Arsenal striker with a double compound fracture of his leg.

Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger called for Taylor to be banned from football in the immediate aftermath of the match but later retracted the comments.

And McLeish has echoed the statements of others - including former Blues boss Steve Bruce who brought Taylor to St Andrew's - that there was no malice in the challenge.

"He's a giant of a man but he's not an aggressive centre-half," said McLeish. "He's more of a footballing one.

"The fact that Arsene has retracted his comments says enough. We've got to let that lie now and move forward.

"We're right behind Martin but we're gutted for Eduardo."