NEW HIGH FOR ROBERTO
Peerless Wigan claim another big scalp in Martinez escape act
Arsene Wenger tapped his watch and flapped his arms impatiently, then Robin van Persie lost his cool and stormed off in a bit of a huff.
But do not allow the finger-pointing and petty accusations of timewasting from arsenal’s figureheads to take credit from a Wigan team transformed by Roberto martinez since the clocks changed.
This victory courtesy of two goals in the opening eight minutes from Franco di Santo and Jordi gomez eased Wigan onto 34 points, five clear of the relegation zone with four to play.
It was a third historic result for the club in a few weeks and they deserved it. Little wonder their 200 fans went berserk in a far corner of the emirates.
Having won for the first time ever at Liverpool and taken their first ever point from manchester United with victory last week, Wigan have now taken their first ever ppoint from an away game at arsenal.
Of those 34 points, 19 have been taken from 11 games since the start of February in what could yet prove to be one of the Barclays Premier League’s great acts of escapology.
They have lost only twice in 11 and one of those was a thoroughly undeserved defeat at Chelsea, when martinez received a written apology for the two offside goals allowed to stand against his team in a 2-1 loss.
‘ That wasn’t an accident,’ said martinez after last night’s win, which brought arsenal’s bid to secure a top-three finish to a halt and sent ripples of anxiety through Wigan’s relegation rivals. In this sort of form, the visitors are not in danger of going down. They are at Fulham on Saturday and do not be surprised if they win again as they are designed to pierce their opponents with slick counter-attacks.
Wigan hit arsenal early and could have had more goals as the home team responded by flooding forward. Thomas Vermaelen pulled a goal back midway through the second half but the visitors defended their lead.
Victor moses gave Bacary Sagna — a very good full back in fine form ahead of this fixture — a torrid night. moses was excellent, yet missed a wonderful chance to make the game safe in the second half.
Wigan seized the initiative while arsenal were struggling with ten men. mikel arteta injured his ankle in the opening seconds, a problem Wenger claimed was ‘very bad’ and would rule him out of Saturday’s game against Chelsea.
arteta hobbled off to the touchline for attention and then back on briefly but could do nothing as the visitors took the lead with a breathtaking goal on the break from an arsenal corner.
James mccarthy headed the ball clear at the near post and the dark blue shirts swarmed down field.
gomez took control on the left and rolled a pass perfectly into the path of Di Santo, who lifted it over goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny and then beat the covering defenders in a scramble to tap the loose ball in.
arteta disappeared down the tunnel, never to return. But before Wenger was able to get a replacement on his team were two down, as gomez finished another cross from the left.
This time it was moses wriggling past Sagna and whipping the ball low into the centre. Szczesny might have smothered the danger. The ‘ keeper seemed to have the ball in his clutches but gomez poked it free and finished. Di Santo curled another shot narrowly wide and mccarthy volleyed over from the edge of the area. Wenger sent on aaron Ramsey and his team set about recovering. ali al Habsi tipped two headers over from Yossi Benayoun before Vermaelen reduced the deficit in the 21st minute, arriving unattended in front of goal to meet Tomas Rosicky’s cross with a powerful header from 12 yards.
at this point, the gunners looked confident of rescuing the game. Vermaelen’s defensive partner Johan Djourou went close with a crisp halfvolley from the edge of the box and Van Persie’s ferocious drive was turned over by al Habsi.
Van Persie had been lucky to escape a booking for a foul on Di Santo but Sagna was booked before the break as he tripped moses and curtailed another counter-attack.
Here was the pattern for much of the game. arsenal flooded forward — carelessly at times, as if already into stoppage time — and the emirates crowd were all too easily irritated as the visitors took their time over goal- kicks and throw-ins.
Wigan, for their part, protected their lead. They threw bodies in the way, blocking shots and passes around the penalty area, hustling in midfield and selecting their moments to spring forward at pace. On the break, they were slick and mobile, exploiting the spaces skilfully.
al Habsi made another save early in the second half, this time scrambling low to his left to deny andre Santos, who was barrelling forward from left back.
Vermaelen climbed high to win a Van Persie corner but could not keep his header down.
But by the end, arsenal seemed to run out of ideas. Wenger hauled off Djourou and threw on alex OxladeChamberlain to great cheers from the home crowd but it changed little. The home team dominated possession but the visitors looked most likely to score.
m.barlow@dailymail.co.uk