Untold Arsenal: Arsenal News » The detailed truth: Wigan v Arsenal, and the result

Wow, what a weekend of football so far. United were dead and buried and the title was on it’s way to Stamford Bridge. Not anymore. Are we in it? Mathematically, yes though realistically there are too few games to expect to overhaul two sides. One could perhaps be relied on to slip up, but not both.

And yet Wigan still holds importance: if we can’t come top,we should be looking at second place. For the side who were going to drop out of the top four to come above either of the established order of title contenders, United and Chelsea would be great and at the very least underline the progress made this season.

In regard to injuries, it’s the usual long-termers with the addition now of  Vermaelen, while Song is likely to still be out for this one. Denilson’s rated a doubt too.

For the Latics, Scottish international Gary Caldwell is serving the last game of a three match ban, with Henry Thomas viewed as a doubt by Roberto Martinez

Predicted line-up:

Almunia

Sagna Sol Silvestre Clichy

Eastmond

Nasri Rosicky

Walcott Bendtner Merida

Truth be told, we’re running out of players. I’m presuming Denilson won’t be involved, so I switched Rosicky to central midfield with Merida coming into the three man attack. Rosicky isn’t particularly suited to the box-to-box role but he gets stuck in and I can’t see another option. It also makes more sense to put the more lightweight Merida in the wide role.

Van Persie again settles for the bench, it seems unreasonable to throw him in, most likely he’ll get 45 minutes. Oh the irony of us building up his fitness for the World Cup.

This season, Wigan have been a model of inconsistency in the Premier League, drawing at home to a depleted Portsmouth side and yet at the same ground taking points of Liverpool and Chelsea. Given our injuries, overconfidence would be a mistake, but we’ll have enough to see off this Wigan side with something to spare.

Wigan have a few players to watch: Honduran Figueroa, scorer of a sensational goal from his own half and a very able full back too; Hugo Rodallega, a Colombian international who has established himself as a solid performer in the Premier League this season. Rodallega has been linked with Arsenal in recent times (along with the ever-improving Charles N’Zogbia) though I think those rumours can be filed alongside the “Eduardo to Liverpool” nonsense.

Wigan play a good game, Roberto Martinez has brought an expansive, attractive style with him that he showcased first at Swansea. This should benefit us, the more open a game the more space we’ll find to exploit. 0-2 to the Arsenal from me.

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