please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Arsenal and Wigan Athletic face each other at the Emirates this Monday and this game has plenty of things riding on it. The result will affect the top and bottom of the premier league table. Arsenal will go in search of a win that will extend their lead over Tottenham Hotspur and Newcastle United to eight points and also open up a ten point gap over Chelsea. Arsenal went into the game with Wolves, knowing that they had the chance to make Chelsea and Tottenham pay for dropping points in the same round of fixtures. And the Gunners did beat Wolves, Robin Van Persie and Theo Walcott combined beautifully as they opened up the Wolves defence, and Sebastien Bassong could only foul Walcott which resulted in a penalty and straight red to Bassong for denying a goal scoring opportunity. Van Persie coolly converted the penalty to give Arsenal the lead. The same two players linked up again and this time no Wolves players could get to Walcott and he buried the chance to give the Gunners a two goal lead in under ten minutes. Yossi Benayoun rounded up the scoring with a goal in the second half as the Gunners cruised home. Wigan, also won on the same night, a Shaun Maloney goal gave the Latics their first win over Manchester United in their entire history. That win also saw Wigan climb out of the bottom three. They currently have a two point lead over Bolton who sit in 17th place but Bolton do have a game in hand. So, it's all very tight in the relegation battle, and we could see the relegation battle go to the last day of the season again. Arsenal recorded a comfortable win over Wigan when the two teams played each other in the first half of the season. Arsenal beat Wigan 4-0 at the DW Stadium and as the score-line suggests, it was embarrassingly easy for the Gunners. Wigan will have to improve a lot from that performance, if they are to get anything from the Emirates, but the Latics are one of the form teams in the premier league, they have managed to get 11 points out of a possible 18 in their last six games. But, they have yet to get even get a single point in any of their games against Arsenal away. But if Wigan can get something from this game, then it will be a huge boost in their survival hopes. Arsenal will be looking to make it six home league wins in a row against Wigan and in the process tighten their grip on third place. Wigan have one sole purpose, and that is simply to remain in the premier league. Their owner has made that clear and his managers past and present have met his sole requirement. It is an astounding feat that Wigan have remained in the top league for six years now. When you consider the average crowd they get and the wages they pay to their players it is to their credit that they have stayed in the premier league for so long. They have very good scouts who provide them with unknown talents that in turn Wigan develop and sell on for a great transfer fee. The likes of Wilson Palacios and Antonio Valencia being two prime examples. Their manager Roberto Martinez could have left in the summer but in the end decided to stay put. Despite the prospects of better resources elsewhere he would have never got more trust from an owner. And as this season proves, that trust is vital to Martinez. Managers like Neil Warnock and Mick McCarthy have lost their jobs despite being higher up in the table than Wigan. The pressure to stay up is immense and a manager needs to backing of his chairman, and Martinez has that in spades. Wigan are starting to become experts in surviving a relegation battle. For most of the season they look like they are going nowhere and look certain for the drop, but again and again they time their run perfectly. Last season was surely too close for comfort but in the end they stayed up again. The story of Wigan Athletic in the Premier League is a remarkable one. They are not set-up like a classic premier league team, they spend next to nothing and get very little gate receipt compared to other teams. But, they make shrewd buys and always stay within budget. Wigan's top scorers in the league are Victor Moses and Franco Di Santo who both have scored 4 goals each in the league. That sums up one of Wigan's main problems. They do not have a forward that can get them the goals needed in order to be higher up in the table. In 33 league games, they have scored 31 goals. Robin Van Persie has 27 league goals to his name. Victor Moses does have the raw talent to cause of plenty of problems to the Arsenal defence and they will have to wary of his dribbling skills. Di Santo, is normally the man that plays upfront and he can hold the ball to an extent but he should not be causing defenders like Thomas Vermaelen any problems. In midfield, Wigan rely on the likes of James Mccarthy to keep them ticking. They can keep the ball better than some of the teams in and around the relegation spots. In fact, they had more of the ball in the game against Manchester United. Shaun Maloney joined Wigan at the start of the season and he is a player that does have talent and he can take on and beat people with his speed. He scored the winner against Manchester United after he cut in from the left and unleashed a brilliant shot that flew past De Gea. Robin Van Persie ended his mini goal drought after scoring against Wolves. The Dutchmen has 27 goals in the league and he equalled a premier league record against Wolves. Van Persie has scored against 17 different premier league teams this season, only Ian Wirght can match that record. It just shows how consistent Van Persie is. One of the guys that has provided him with the bullets, has been Theo Walcott. The England international has got better as the season went on and his turning point came against Tottenham Hotspur. Walcott has eight goals and eight assists in the league this season. Theo Walcott might have expected a better goal return but he is at least providing the assists to go with his goals. Walcott like Van Persie only have two years left on his contract, and the Gunners will want to secure the Englishmen quickly if his late season form is anything to go by. Wojciech Szczesny made one outstanding save against Wolves which just underlined his quality. He pretty much had nothing to do in that game, yet when needed he delivered and kept Wolves out. Arsenal have kept four clean sheets in their last five games, and Szczesny is a key part of that defence. So is Bacary Sagna, who since returning from injury has shown why he rated as one of the best right backs in the entire league. Thomas Rosicky was rested against Wovles, and he is expected to return for this game. Arsenal will need his creative edge if they are to beat a Wigan team who are in decent form. Arsenal will be looking for another win and a win here really would put them in driving seat for that champions league place. Team News: Arsene Wenger: Form Guide: please log in to view this image Three Key Match-ups: please log in to view this image please log in to view this image please log in to view this image Overall Record Wigan Athletic: Played: 17 Wins: 13 Draws: 2 Losses: 2 For: 39 Against: 13 GD: 26 Last 6 Meetings: Wigan Athletic 0 - 4 Arsenal Arsenal 3-0 Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic 2-2 Arsenal Arsenal 2-0 Wigan Athletic (League Cup) Wigan Athletic 3-2 Arsenal Arsenal 4-0 Wigan Athletic please log in to view this image Mangers Views: Arsene Wenger on Yossi Benayoun: My Team: please log in to view this image Final Score: please log in to view this image
Top thread, again, you should have a job at a newspaper doing these, mate Tough game for us, given Wigan's recent form, but I'm going for a sneaky 2-1. Wigan will score first, I think!
I'm saying that we'll batter them. They play an open style, and are vulnerable at the back, so i think we should win comfortably. Arsenal:4 Wigan:1 (Djourou is playing, i don't trust him 1 bit)
although on paper this should be an easy game, it could turn out to be otherwise, for starters, our evening premier league home games have usually been tough on us, I don't what it is about playing on a weekday-evening, but those games have usually been tough work rather than a stroll. Secondly, over the last few weeks Wigan have been playing some very very good football, they beat Liverpool at Anfield, they were unlucky to lose against Chelsea, and they just recently beat Manunited, so they aren't going to be any push overs. And as I said, not only have the results been good, but their performances in these games have been top quality as well. Wigan are very motivated right now and are on a high, so if we go into this game with some complacency, being too relaxed, it could go bad for us. We need to enter this game with very high motivation and drive, anything else and it could be a bad night.
Wigan are one of those teams that I would like to stay up. They are run well, by a chairman who is a real football man, who saw off that idiot Maurice Lindsay and his RL mob, and treats his manager well. Also Martinez has to be admired for trying to play the right way despite not being very good at it. Wigan have also a good reecord of scouting out good-very good players who have gone on to bigger clubs. So, although I can see that for us to stand a chance of winning the league (as pointed out by another poster earlier on this board) this year we need to win, I wouldn't be too uopset if we drew this one.
You are right about them being motivated but therin lies their weakness . We tend to struggle against teams that park the bus and play for a draw. If they play an open attacking game then i have no doubt that we will roll them . I know Manure just lost to them but in my opinion they thought they just had to turn up and collect the points. We have seen enough times in the past that that is NOT the case . i DO hope they have a real go at us , thats when we are most dangerous , as the spuds found out .
they will have a go at us and try to beat us at our own game, and it will not work out for them. having said that, i think with their recent run of form they are good candidates to avoid the drop.
Yes Sir, I mean you ask me who i'd prefer to go down, your bolton's and blackburns or wigan, then it's the former quite easily, the premiership will be better off without them.
Bolton aren't that bad under coyle though i might be being biased seeing as we've loaned them two of our players and hes giving them good game time
I hope Oxo get's a start in this game. I think we should approach it in a very attacking sense. If we go into in in the same manner as we did against Wolves we could be out of sight by half time.
Agreed on OXO starting, but I don't think we'll be out of sight at any point in the game. Would be great if we were! Would take another Wolves game - easy on the nerves and easy on the players.
I hope that Arsenal coming flying out of the blocks against wigan with Pobin van Persie and Arteta amongst te goals again i predict a 5-1 score line and another 3 goal haul for super Robin (ever Reliant) van Persie.
I'd play Gibbs tonight. Wigan play a very narrow backline with the 3CB's and are very susceptible to a team with good width to draw them out of position. Gibbs will exploit this a lot better than Santos.
I have just read that - if he is picked - this will be Ox's 50th league appearance....that's kind of snuck up on me. Also, Song's 200th league appearance - I would have guessed a few more. Show's what I know about things. Just a view, but I think it will be tight tonight, but we should come out with three points. Three more against Chelsea on Saturdy should jkust about cement the third place. Quite remarkable given the start we gave everyone else this season.
