Barclays Premier League: Arsenal 4-1 Wigan – Gunners send Wigan down, boost European hopes

Arsenal secured a vital win last night at the Emirates against Wigan, a result that relegated the visitors to the Championship next season, just three days after their FA Cup triumph at Wembley.

The Gunners got off to a fast start and looked the more dangerous team in the opening stages. Theo Walcott’s cross was met by the head of Santi Cazorla, who so very nearly put Arsenal in front.

Cazorla turned provider when his corner was nodded in by Lukas Podolski to put Arsenal ahead. Arsenal had taken the lead very early in their last two games. Against Manchester United, they had the lead in under 2 minutes thanks to a Theo Walcott goal. They drew 1-1. Against QPR, Walcott again scored, but in the opening 20 seconds – Arsenal won 1-0. This time they needed to build on their lead and have a little comfort.

Lukas Podolski celebrates one of his two goals last night.

Picture: The Telegraph

To their credit, that’s exactly what the hosts tried to do. They kept on attacking and were looking fairly comfortable. Bacary Sagna very nearly played in Kieran Gibbs with a misplaced shot as Arsenal searched for more goals.

A few minutes later, Wigan very nearly equalised, despite offering very little threat up until that point. Laurent Koscielny hooked the ball away from Arouna Kone who was looking to pounce on a ball in the air. It could well have gone in but for Koscielny’s acrobatics.

Koscielny went so close to scoring at the other end when his effort went just wide from another Cazorla set-piece.

It wouldn’t be long before the visitors levelled though. When Shaun Maloney went down after Mikel Arteta was adjudged to have fouled him, he stepped up for the resulting free-kick and managed to get it up and over the wall and beat Szczesny, who got a hand on it.

It was well and truly game on again. The travelling fans were hoping for another major upset in London, as were the Tottenham fans that were watching on their televisions.

As the second half began, there was very much all to play for with both sides needing a win to keep their differing dreams alive. Wigan very nearly added a second early on in the second half when Kone was denied by a good save from Szczesny in the Arsenal goal.

Arsenal then showed their threat as the game started to become end to end stuff. Theo Walcott played a good ball in for Cazorla, who was denied twice by Joel Robles, the Wigan keeper and Tomas Rosicky saw his follow up effort go wide.

At that stage you thought the next goal could make the difference. If Wigan were to score it, would Arsenal have it in them to score twice against a team fighting for their lives?. If Arsenal scored, would a tired Wigan side be able to pull them back again having just played a cup final at the weekend?.

The answer came shortly after. A fantastic cross by Cazorla was bundled in by Walcott and the Gunners had the lead once again. It was a vital lead and Arsenal looked capable of extending it.

Five minutes later, Podolski added his second of the evening when he was played onside by Paul Scharner and the German international lifted the ball over the onrushing Wigan keeper. 3-1 to Arsenal and it was looking comfortable now.

Arsenal made the result a sure thing when Ramsey fired in from a tight angle just a few minutes later. The Welshman could have set up Podolski for his hat-trick, but to his credit, he had the bravery to take it on and he really did finish it well. It was Ramsey’s first league goal of the season, so you can forgive him for taking it on. His only other goal this season came in the group stages of the Champions League against Olympiakos.

Aaron Ramsey scores the pick of the bunch, Arsenal’s fourth and final goal of the night.

Picture: The Daily Mirror.

Arsenal did a lap of appreciation for the fans at the final whistle. It was quite fitting that the lap of appreciation came on a night that the fans had to brave cold and wet conditions, that shouldn’t really be a problem in May, but that is typical of the English weather. There was no silverware to show off for an eighth year running, but you look at a team like Wigan who won the cup at the weekend and wonder whether they’d trade places with the Gunners if they could?.

All Arsenal have to do this weekend is win. If Arsenal win, they’re in. Focus on that, that is all I ask. There is a possibility that Arsenal could finish as high as 3rd and there is still of course a possibility of 5th place too. If Arsenal win at Newcastle, the least they’re guaranteed is 4th. It won’t be easy by any means, but if they come out like they did last night, they should get the job done. Newcastle are safe, as are Tottenham’s opponents Sunderland. Hopefully the weekend will bring Champions League qualification, it will be nervy again I am sure, but Arsenal are in the same boat as they were last season. Win and nothing else matters. It’s never a good situation to have to rely on other teams, so hopefully the Gunners can do the job themselves.

Just an interesting point regarding 3rd and 4th place. People worked out last night that there are a few outcomes on Sunday that could see Arsenal and Chelsea finish the season on the exact same points, goal difference and goals scored. The Premier League have confirmed that should those outcomes come up, there will be a play-off for 3rd and 4th between Arsenal and Chelsea. It does matter, because whoever finishes 3rd automatically goes into the group stages of next season’s Champions League and the 4th placed team will face a two-legged qualifier.

Of course, we are a long way off having to worry about that scenario. First of all we will focus on winning our game and then we will see what Chelsea do. If we don’t win on Sunday, we will nervously look at how Tottenham are doing against Sunderland. The news of the scores will spread to the stadiums involved as fans will be checking their phones and listening to the radio and celebrating goals or looking very miserable when they hear some goal updates.

It’s in Arsenal’s hands. They’ve been here before, hopefully it will have a similar outcome to those in previous seasons.