Wigan Vs Arsenal

Wigan Vs Arsenal
12:45 BST
D.W Stadium
Referee: J.Moss


A festive period

The Winter period is always busy and hectic but in a way, exciting. Despite the fact that our game against West ham next week got cancelled, we still have a pretty touch schedule coming up, specially in January where we play our 3rd round FA cup fixture away to swansea followed by a trip to chelsea and a home game against Manchester City. Taking that into account, our game against Wigan becomes more important than ever. Wigan have become our dodgy team in recent years. Their 3 goals in 10 minutes comeback 2 years ago and of course the 2-1 win at the Emirates last year. We really can't take this game lightly. Wigan play some beautiful football and they have players to hurt us. We won our last game against Reading where Santi delivered a great Gift of goals and that performance should have lifted our spirits after the debacle at Bradford. I think the game should be straight forward if we stick to the game plan and don't make any silly errors.

Talking Tactics

Arsenal played Walcott upfront against reading with Oxlade and Podolski on the flanks in a trio which was very dynamic and penetrative. It will be interesting to see if Wenger goes with the same trio or he brings Giroud back in the attack who is also been in good form. Personally, i would like to see Theo upfront again, to see if the game against reading wasn't one off and he can actually perform there. Along with that, our football against reading was excellent at times, vintage arsenal-like. Playing the same team again will also tell us a bit more about the side. However i won't be surprised if Wenger changes few things in the team.

Talking about Wigan, Michael Cox says " The danger area is on the flanks. Wigan’s front three spread across the pitch, but the wide players - probably Aroune Kone and Jordi Gomez - drift inside, dragging the full backs narrow. Then, the wing backs Ronnie Stam and Jean Beausejour maintain the width by sprinting forward into crossing positions.

Therefore, it’s absolutely vital that Arsenal’s wide players remain disciplined, and track them, or else Wigan will cause Arsenal significant problems."

Team News

I don't think We have any new injury concerns. Which is good.

For Wigan, defender Adrian Lopez (hamstring) is out for up to 10 weeks, while James McCarthy is a doubt after suffering an ankle injury against Norwich. Long-terms casualties Gary Caldwell, Antolin Alcaraz and Ivan Ramis are all nearing a return.

Probable Arsenal Team

------------------------------------------Szczesny---------------------------------------

Sagna----------------------Mertesacker-----------------Vermaelen-------------------Gibbs

-----------------------------Arteta---------------------Wilshere---------------------------

Oxlade----------------------------------Cazorla------------------------------------Podolski

-----------------------------------Walcott-------------------------------------------------

Wigan Team(no idea)

----------------------------------------Al Habsi--------------------------------------------

-----------------------Boyce-----------Caldwell------------------Figueroa-----------------

Stam-----------------------Watson--------------McCarthur-------------------------Beausejour

--------------------Gomez-------------Di Santo---------------------Kone--------------------

Match Facts (BBC)

Head-to-head

• Wigan have won just one home Premier League game against Arsenal (W1, D2, L4) - a 3-2 victory in April 2010.
  
• The away side won both fixtures last season - Arsenal 4-0 at the DW Stadium and Wigan 2-1 at the Emirates.

Wigan

• The Latics have won just one of their last seven Premier League games (W1, D1, L5).
  
• Roberto Martinez's men have kept just two clean sheets in the league this season.
  
• Wigan have lost 10 out of their 17 Premier League matches this season. They have only lost more matches at this stage in a top-flight season in 2007-08, when they had lost 11. They finished that season in 14th place.
  
• Ali Al Habsi is on the brink of his 100th Wigan appearance, and his 100th Premier League appearance.

Arsenal

• Victory against Reading gave Arsenal back-to-back league wins for only the second time this season - they have not won three consecutive Premier League games since a seven-match winning streak in February-March.
  
• The Gunners have won just one of their last five Premier League away games (W1, D2, L2).
  
• Only Manchester City (6) have conceded fewer goals away from home in the Premier League than Arsenal ( this season.
  
• Theo Walcott has scored 11 goals in all competitions for the club this season, leaving him just two short of equalling his most prolific season, when he netted 13 in 2010-11.

Final Words

A 3rd consecutive win in the PL would do a lot of good to our morale. We should win this game if we play like we did against Reading.

3-1 to the Arsenal

Nice work RG.

Think we'll see the same line up and bench that we saw v Reading. Btw, 2 Gomez's in your Wigan team RG.

RealGunner wrote:[center]
Final Words

A 3rd consecutive win in the PL would do a lot of good to our morale. We should win this game if we play like we did against Reading.

Hoping for a win!
and that line up would be great.

Nice read btw

Samuelj29060 wrote:Nice work RG.

Think we'll see the same line up and bench that we saw v Reading. Btw, 2 Gomez's in your Wigan team RG.

lmao

Was meant to write kone xD

Roberto Martinez: "Arsene Wenger has done a phenomenal job. For me, it's incredible to see the criticism of him." - http://bit.ly/VggLkt

Steve Stammers ‏@SteveStammers2
Looks like Theo is up front again at Wigan. Olivier ill. Maybe on the bench.

Great work RG

still searching for a good consecutive run hope we keep it going
as long as we dont concede sh*tyy goal early on
wigan at home have to come out as they need points
so lets try Theo up top and then introduce Giroud later on

Rather than thinking about how to deal with quick crosses in to the box
we should try and block them at first hand

Geoff Arsenal ‏@GeoffArsenal
Theo starts up top tomorrow. #COYG

Same lineup then

I would like to see Koscielny with Verminator for this game. Per has been in great form this season but he needs rest or there is a risk that he might get injured again.

I hope Wenger starts Theo upfront again so he can get the chance to prove himself what he can do.

Wigan are a really annoying side. Every time we play them, I always think we should win comfortably because, usually, they're not doing very well at the time. But for whatever reason, these games prove to be much more difficult than they perhaps should be.

I don't believe Wigan's wing backs will cause too much trouble for us in an attacking sense. If we keep the ball as well as we did on Monday, then those wing backs are going to be dropped into full back to make a five at the back instead of a three and the two wide forwards will probably drop into midfield. I'm pretty sure it'll be 5-4-1 we'll be up against more than a 3-4-3.

This presents a different challenge for us. We'll have a 3v2 advantage in midfield, but will have to break down a five man defence whilst being wary of Wigan's pace on the counter. We found out first hand how hard this can be at the Emirates last season.

Hopefully, Wigan will be ambitious and try to attack us, since they usually play with a high line and we all know how much Walcott likes high lines.

We've got two good wins behind us in the league now, so I'm confident of a win. At the same time, I'm weary of Wigan as they're annoyingly unpredictably in these sorts of games.

Great Job RG.

Must win game, keep the same line up as the Reading game and we should walk away with all 3 points.

3 wins in a row I can feel it.

El Gunner wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:Great Job RG.

Must win game, keep the same line up as the Reading game and we should walk away with all 3 points.

3 wins in a row I can feel it.

don't you bloody jinx this, ffs...

Wigan's form is dreadful at the moment. Like RG said, one win in seven PL games with 5 defeats, I draw and one win.

We are starting to shoe signs of improvement in the PL after wins vs West Brom and Reading.

This is a must win. I hope AW goes for the same starting XI we had vs Reading.

West Ham game cancelled so we won't see much of our beloved Arse over the festive period.

COYG!

I'm going for a 3-2 Arsenal away win.

Great preview RG..
Wigan has always been an unpredictable game in the recent years..
I want us to start Giroud upfront if he is fit, instead of Walcott and move him to right.. I still dont feel that Walcott did something above average last game to play him there.. It is an important game so we should go with our best team which i believe is Giroud as CF.. I know Cazorla had a great match last game, which i think was mainly due to their lack of pressing and marking.. So i would still like him to be shifted wide and we use an in form looking Rosicky centrally than putting him again in the bench.. We should rotate Kos too.. He should not be put to the bench till someone gets injured..

Win can probably place at us top four just for the new year like we did last year..

Official lineups:

Wigan starting XI: Wigan: Al Habsi; Stam, Boyce, Figueroa; McArthur, Jones, McCarthy, Beausejour; Maloney, Di Santo, Kone.

Arsenal starting XI: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott

Subs: Mannone, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Coquelin, Ramsey, Arshavin, Gervinho

We finally named an unchanged starting 11.

PS: Great job, RG, summed up my feelings perfectly, we need to start winning games consecutively and pick up some kind of form before the CL games. COYG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Something about that Wigan line-up bothers me. Looks more like 4-3-3 than 3-4-3 (Stam's not a CB, McArthur hasn't played RWB, as far as I know).

Oh well, good to see an unchanged team from us.

No Rosicky in sub.. Again injured ?

Rev wrote:Official lineups:

Wigan starting XI: Wigan: Al Habsi; Stam, Boyce, Figueroa; McArthur, Jones, McCarthy, Beausejour; Maloney, Di Santo, Kone.

Arsenal starting XI: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Cazorla, Podolski, Walcott

Subs: Mannone, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Coquelin, Ramsey, Arshavin, Gervinho

We finally named an unchanged starting 11.

PS: Great job, RG, summed up my feelings perfectly, we need to start winning games consecutively and pick up some kind of form before the CL games. COYG !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

that bench is awful

REWB wrote:that bench is awful

lol exactly what I was thinking

Should finish off the game before the 70th minute

Hmmm Wigan are tough (atleast when they play against us). This isn't gonna be easy. Hope that Walcott getting another game as CF will lean him towards signing the contract. Apparently it's been raining at the stadium. I don't feel so confident about the game, but let's see what happens. COYG!

I agree that no Rosicky and Giroud is a blow, but are starters should do the job, we shouldn't rely on our subs, mainly because they come on in the 80th minute all the time.

please share streams...