Wigan Athletic 2 Arsenal 3: An away win at last!

Cygan - Master of disaster

At least there was the prospect of a first time visit to yet another stadium to look forward to, then again that was offset by the prospect of travelling on the dreaded M6. There was one minor consolation in that I wouldn’t be as cold as a Gooner called Bruce who was also travelling to Wigan but had left New South Wales earlier in the week where the local temperature was 35 degrees.

So no Hleb, no Cole, no Clichy and no Eboue who was also ruled out through injury. Le Boss decided to play Pascal at left back but also played Freddie on the left side by way of additional support instead of Rob, who played on the right. Van Persie also started and deservedly so.

Two teams playing a 4-4-2 made a pleasant change and as result the first half was pretty open. Wigan played in our half for a bit as they kicked towards a North Stand full of travelling Gooners who formed part of the new Stadium record crowd of 25,004. The two opening free kicks were against Gilberto who never seems to play at his best after being away with Brazil.

McCulloch hoofed over following a throw in and then Kolo’s first foul on McCulloch had Graham Poll flashing a yellow card. The same Poll who bent over backwards at Old Trollop the other week trying not to flash cards too early in the match. Ping-pong in the Arsenal box and a snatched shot went wide. Pascal’s first less than brilliant pass of the day forced Jens to hack clear. De Zeeuw hacked down Titi for a yellow card. Henry hit the free kick from almost 40 yards and Filan fumbled it but recovered. Frances was given offside but Jens saved anyway.

Twelve minutes gone, or there abouts, and Van Persie turned his man inside out and got his early shot away before any Wigan cover arrived. It bounced just in front of Filan and straight on into the net. A soft goal but ‘feed the Robin and he will score’ because he shoots on sight and some of his shots come off. 0-1 to the Arsenal. The keeper could and maybe should have saved it but how many keepers have we seen beaten by a ‘yorker’ such as this?

Henry looked the part today but it was Robin who benefited from a tidy Henry pass, which was driven across goal just past the far post, a very clever shot on the turn that only an in form player would have attempted. Henry had a shot from miles out that was well wide. Francis provided some good linking play and Van Persie at the other end produced another brilliant turn. Fabregas almost got through, as did Henry. We were on top but passing was not easy on what looked to be a rather knackered pitch that cut up a lot, however we were managing to show some control on it for all that. What Wigan showed was an unending willingness to work hard, close quickly and a desire to pump it forward at the first opportunity.

Rob found Cesc who slipped the ball through to Henry; ‘the man’ was cool, out-sprinted his marker and put it low into the corner of the net well out of Filan’s reach. We had started to carve them up and things looked bad for Wigan at 0-2 with twenty-four minutes on the clock. ‘Easy, easy, easy’. Pires, who had been pretty mediocre, started to play and Frances missed a good chance from a fine Chimbonda cross. Wigan broke again but Kolo tidied up at the back. Kavanagh skied an ambitious shot from range. ‘You’ve only come to see the Arsenal’ ‘You should have stuck to the Rugby’

Henry - Two fantastic goals

Robin rode two fouls and was looking good but a silly foul by him, wide on Wigan’s left, saw a free kick pumped in by Baines and surprise, surprise we were beaten to a header at the far post, by De Zeeuw (?) and Camara was first there with a diving header to find the net from close range. Our two-goal advantage had lasted just four minutes. 1-2 to Arsenal and the home crowd were up for it again. I’m not sure why but the majority of Wigan’s crowd didn’t seem to understand that when you trip someone or climb on their back it’s a free kick, but then again neither did Poll. That said I only recall a couple of ‘Oh Graham Poll is a fecking arsehole’ chants so by his standards he must have had quite a good game.

Immediately after the goal was scored Roberts flattened Cesc who was playing around with the ball in our six-yard box; my immediate impression was that it should have been a straight red because he took him out with play already dead. But Arsehole Poll thought a yellow card sufficient.

Wigan came to life and Kolo did well to recover and clear one fine effort off the line after good play by Roberts. Offside against Wigan, not given, but the shot was blasted over anyway. McCulloch had a header that Jens saved at a time where Wigan were winning all the challenges in the air. Kavanagh tripped Henry for a yellow card as Wigan fans claimed ‘We’re gonna win 3-2’. Van Persie felled – nothing given, McCulloch very late on Lauren. Another Wigan header went over but Arsenal had started to control things. Robin axed – play on, Thierry axed play on, Cygan axed – free kick, and the tossers in blue and white booed.

The free kick was about 35 yards out, it was hit sweetly by Henry, it also bent a bit and went in off the post. A peach and 1-3 Arsenal.

The highlights programme showed Henry giving Poll the glare after this because seemingly our Tel had wanted to score from a quick free kick but wasn’t allowed to my the 'Tring Trigger'.

Shortly after the goal Henchoz used Henry as a stepladder before Van Persie almost got through again. ‘One Arsene Wenger’ drew a wave from Le Boss. It was end to end as Bullard on their right, cut inside and lashed one past Lehmann to make it 2-3 on about 45 minutes. Our defence was asleep again. The three minutes added time saw Lehmann take a really high catch from a corner and an dive worthy of an Oscar by Chimbonda in our box that Poll should have awarded with a card, but didn’t.

The first half had been all action and a great game for neutrals. For the travelling Gooners it was great to watch Titi on song and in tandem with Van Persie to boot. However it was also the usual predictable story of poor marking from set plays, defensive gaps and the necessity of brown trousers when the ball was in or around our box.

The second half opened with Cygan being carded for a foul on Bullard. Bullard had a wild shot soon after. Henry had some words with Poll that seemed to go on a bit.

Freddie - A welcome return

Van Persie stole the ball in their box and had a chip from wide that was headed away for a corner. From the corner Van Persie found Sol who headed just wide, you had the feeling that we needed another goal because our flow wasn’t always there and Wigan still looked like they could grab a third. This half though was bittier than the first, full of stops and starts with lots of off the ball obstructions to stop quick one-twos and a lot of poor balls from both teams. Much of this was probably due to playing surface that continued to cut up.

Henry to Van Persie who should have scored but was closed very quickly. It was notable that Pascal and Freddie were arguing a lot, it was also clear that Pascal was out of position a lot, but it should have been clear that a 4th. choice centre back playing at left back needed encouragement rather than a slagging. Gilberto covered well after a decent move ended with one of Henry’s rare poor balls. Henry had a shot blocked following another good move. Pascal, Thierry and a few others were involved when the ball fell to Cesc who fired well over, it looked to me like a bad bobble at the crucial moment.

Gilberto axed to a chorus of boos. Cesc to Henry who almost got in but instead won a throw-in. Pires to Cesc whose shot was blocked. Wigan broke and Sol did seriously well to head away at the expense of a corner. Camara in hard on Freddie, Cesc in even harder on Camara and for my money two of the best tackles in the match were executed by young Fabregas. Pires, now playing on our left, gave away a free kick that resulted in more ping-pong in and around our box.

With about 15 minutes to play Mathieu and Dennis replaced Robin and Robert. Freddie was flattened, Pascal did well to quell an attack. A blatant handball was not given; as a result Pat Rice had some excellent advice for Poll that was not at all appreciated. A poor first touch by Mathieu meant he had to overstretch and made a bad tackle on McCulloch that deserved the yellow card that resulted. Lehmann did well to save at feet after Sol was beaten. But Sol made up for it when he retrieved another ‘situation’ caused by Pascal. Dennis to Freddie to Cesc and a good run won us another corner.

Another fine tackle by Cesc. Arsenal were now in passing mode and as Wigan tired they found it harder to close us quite as quickly. Sol was turned and a great cross from the Wigan right was hit just behind a blue and white shirt. Connolly on for McCulloch. The game remained helter-skelter till the end. It remained fast and furious to the end and we remained, pretty well, on top till the end.

Senderos replaced Freddie in added time and his first touch was a clearance. The second half remained scoreless so we won 2-3. Overall I’d say we had more shots both on and off target than Wigan and just about deserved the win, but Wigan certainly didn’t make it easy. Someone may well give them a spanking this season but they look to have what it takes to remain comfortably placed in the Premiership. Paul Jewell has done and continues to do a remarkable job – I sincerely hope they win next week.

Meanwhile Arsenal continue to climb the table without making up ground on the League leaders.