Arsenal 4 - 1 Wigan Athletic: To the final day we go

I wish this Arsenal side would make its mind about how it wants to play.

In a single night, they went from eager to pragmatic, pragmatic to complacent, then complacent to ruthless. How one team can go through so many phases is beyond me, but this is what Arsenal did.

An early goal is a good way to gain early control of a game and wrack up a decent sized scoreline. For the third game running, we scored an early goal, thanks mainly to Wigan's lack of competent set-piece defending. Arsenal's ploy of placing Mertesacker at the front post hasn't worked at all this season, but his presence seemed to disturb the Wigan players enough to leave Podolski completely unmarked. He nodded it in and you thought that Arsenal would go on to win comfortably from here.

This Arsenal side isn't very keen on increasing their lead, though. Against Fulham, Manchester United and QPR, we failed to build on a 1-0 lead and got by thanks to some good defending, but it was always a dangerous game to play. We allowed Wigan to come onto us and start getting some good possession in our own half instead of camping in their half and trying to get a second goal. A freekick-that-wasn't was given by our favourite referee, Mike Dean, and Maloney goes on to level the scoreline just before half-time.

Poor officiating aside, Arsenal really were asking for that.

In the early moments of the second half, Wigan were the better side and would've been 2-1 up if not for a vital save from Szczesny. This was the first of many significant moments in the second half.

Arsenal finally found some quality going forward after a frustrating period of going nowhere. Sagna plays a great pass down the flank to find Cazorla. Cazorla proceeds to play an almost unplayable cross across the ground that neither the backtracking Wigan defenders or goalkeeper can cut out; Walcott's speed also plays a big part as he gets to the ball before the keeper and manages to squeeze it in.

That goal changed the game in our favour. Going into this game, I thought that Wigan would inevitably make mistakes if they're under enough pressure. They did so for the third goal. They cleared the ball initially, but their defenders lost all concentration and allowed Podolski in behind to produce a tidy finish. At 3-1, you could see Wigan were already down and out and Ramsey's goal was the icing on the cake.

Time to finish the job

After tonight's crucial win, destiny is still in our own hands. One more win away to Newcastle on Sunday and we'll be fourth. Depending on certain circumstances, we may even finish third.

It's been an incredible run to even get to this point. After that Spurs game a couple of months back, very few people thought that we'd recover, however since then we haven't lost a game. We've not exactly set the world alight, but we've shown an impressive amount of efficiency and desire.

Newcastle isn't going to be an easy game by any means, but the players are used to this sort of situation. Undoubtedly they'll be a few more heart-attacks along the way, but we're almost there now.

Adios Wigan, going out like Birmingham with a trophy in their cabinet but not much else.

One. More. Win

GET THE F INNNNN

What happened there!?

Great 20 minutes, then madness & poor officiating, and then another terrific (and ruthless) patch ... phew.

Cazorla, Ramsey, Koscielny all had standout matches. Theo very good too. Some nice crossing from a number of players, haven't seen that in ages. I wish the Ox could have come on a little sooner though ...

But overall:

17 games unbeaten with Kos n per

BYE bye wigan hotspurs

we shoulda score one more though
when we got 4th i felt secure then calculated our GD situation

AW might have got lot of criticism for Starting injured Goldi Poldi but thankfully he got 2 crucial Goals

Santi Climbing in Assist charts

more movement in to depth and arrival into box from our midfields was encouraging

really glad we won . Podolski, carzola and walcott, koscielny and ramsey were immense tonight . I just hope arteta isnt injured .

Congratulations on 4th place guys

Amazing game.. we are the ultimate entertainers...

We started the game well showing the right spirit.. attacked with pace and pressed high.. and were gifted a scrappy goal (typical Arsenal corner defending.. ).. We were amazing in the first 20 mins..
It is amazing that how our matches take u turns.. who would have expected this after seeing the first 20 mins.. May be after that we switched off a bit and Wigan were back at us.. they scored from a harsh free kick given by D***.. but have to admit they were the better team in the second part of 1st half..
We came back after the break ready for the fight.. but if it was not that Sczenys 1v1 save against Kone we would have lost this game.. Wlcott scored the vital 2nd goal which opened up a tiring Wigan for more..
they won the FA cup.. but it wont keep them happy..
our midfield was great today.. you can argue that it came against another weak defence.. but we pressed high breaking their game forcing them to mispass and clear.. Rosicky and Ramsey did a great job.. Ramsey is an engine, his work rate is terrific, was overall great except for that 30 yarders he tried.. but feel happy that he finally scored.. Cazorla again unstoppable against a poor defending team.. makes me wonder why he goes totally anonymous in some matches.. Podolski managed to get a couple of goals with some good finishing..
and the MOTM for me Walcott.. credits to him that he was willing to stay wide and cross many a time.. and he found time to cut in from the wide also.. and his goal was the turning point of the match..
Amazing that now Kos-Met partnership is now unbeaten in 17 games..!! Koscielny was great again.. Gibbs was excellent at both ends.. and finally fantasy came true when we saw Vermelen as DM.. Hope we can see him again there next season...

Ratings
Sczeny - 6,5
Sagna - 6
Metskr - 7
Kos- 7.5
Gibbs - 7
Arteta - 6
Ramsey - 7
Rosicky - 6
Cazorla - 7.5
Walcott - 7.5 MOTM
Podolski - 6.5
Wilshere - 6
Ox - 6.5

CBarca wrote:Congratulations on 4th place guys

Last round to go.

wow. Intense game!! why cant i be cazorlas son lol

lmao

Arteta doubtful

Some points:

- Szczesny's save on Kone was incredible. Kept us alive at that point
- Cazorla is an incredible player
- Walcott's goal = crucial
- Goal difference increased +3, which means we can still finish 3rd if we beat Newcastle and Everton get a result.
- We'll have Giroud back vs Newcastle
- Those people at 'SkySports' just can't stop mentioning our trophy drought can they? C*nts!

Job well done. Now it all comes down to the Newcastle game. We still have it our hands, now we just have to finish it off. Hopefully, we can still get 3rd if Chelsea slip up.

i see why mccarthy is rated so highly now, this guy is great at controlling the temp of the game. he BOSSED arteta and rosicky for huge parts today

So If Chelsea draw their last game and we win by one goal.

Who gets 3rd if we are both on same GD. Chelsea right because they beat us twice?

I would say so

Unless it goes to Alphabetical order

what a pic

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doesnt goals forward count in that situation ?which chelkeez are again better thats why i said we need 1 more

Doesn't it come down to goals scored, if we end on the same goal difference as Chelsea.

hmm you may be on to something here.

RealGunner wrote:hmm you may be on to something here.

We need clarity though,

Just saw someone tweet

If Chelsea draw 0-0 with Everton & Arsenal beat Newcastle 2-1, both teams will be on 73 points, +35 GD, same GS & GC. No head to head rule.



Jay might know