When did Wigan turn into Barcelona?
I was certain that today’s Arsenal v Wigan match was a home banker. How could it not be. Wigan had never won at the Emirates in the Premier League
But I was totally forgetting that Wigan had just beaten Man United and should have beaten Chelsea (robbed by the linesman). And tonight at the Emirates we saw how well they are playing as two quick goals stunned the Gunners (and the crowd) and then they hung on to win 2-1. A great win for their survival hopes, a big blow for Arsenal’s hopes of finishing third this season.
Franco Di Santo put Wigan ahead after only seven minutes, finishing off a brilliant counterattack that Arsene Wenger would ahve been proud off. Di Santo beat Wojciech Szczesny to the ball and stroked the ball home into an empty net.
The Wigan fans must have been in dreamland two minutes later when they scored again as Jordi Gomez prodded the ball home from close range after a good run by Victor Moses.
Thomas Vermaelen pulled a goal back for the Gunners after 21 minutes, but a combination of poor finishing, good defending and terrific goalkeeping from Al Habsi gave them a massive three points.
The win leaves Wigan five points clear of the relegation zone with four games to go. Roberto Martinez does not get the positive press that a lot of other managers get, but you have to be impressed with the job je continues to do at Wigan, keeping them up every year with probably the smallest budget in the league. What I like about martinez is that he keeps his teams up while playing attractive football. Wigan is not Bolton under Sam Allardyce, or Stoke under Tony Pulis.
As for Arsenal defeat puts a lot of pressure on them ahead of this weekend’s big game against Chelsea. Win and Arsenal are al but assured of finishing third in the league this season. Which in itself is a great achievement considering where they were at the end of August. But lose to a resurgent Chelsea and suddenly Spurs, Newcastle and Chelsea will all be nipping at Arsenal’s feet for the final two Champions league places.
