Wigan-0-1 Arsenal Match report pictures
And what a miserable morning it is. It's raining, it's raining, not tears from my eyes but actual rain. And that's led to several pre-Christmas postponements.
Thankfully Wigan v Arsenal has survived to downpour. The question is: which Arsenal will turn up The callow, dire XI that stumbled to ruinous defeat at Bradford and lost at home to Swansea Or the side that away from the defeats has picked up enough points to see them sit fifth in the Premier League, just two points off third We'll find out shortly.
Updated at 12.02pm GMT
12.05pm GMT The teams are in
Wigan: Al Habsi, Kone, McCarthy, Jones, Di Santo, Maloney, McArthur, Boyce, Beausejour, Stam, Figueroa. Subs: Pollitt, Caldwell, Gomez, McManaman, Boselli, Fyvie, Golobart
Arsenal: Szczesny, Sagna, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Arteta, Wilshere, Cazorla, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Walcott, Podolski. Subs: Mannone, Jenkinson, Koscielny, Coquelin, Ramsey, Arshavin, Gervinho.
So, Theo Walcott leads the Arsenal line once more. Giroud apart that's just about the Gunners' first-choice XI. For Wigan, Roberto Martinez's Mauro Boselli experiment lasts just one week. He's back on the bench today. James McCarthy is fit to start.
Updated at 12.24pm GMT
12.09pm GMT Parish notices: Christmas appeal
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12.34pm GMT
Three topics of discussion on the sports desk so far this morning dept i) This interview with Tory MP David 'Erasure' Davies; ii) The fact that the local Pret is closed today, leading to massive caffeine and toasted sandwich deficiency; iii) Mark Lawrenson's description of Andres Iniesta as "unspectacular" on Football Focus.
12.36pm GMT
Rumours coming out of the DW Stadium that James McCarthy will be playing at centre-half for Wigan. It'd be as one of three at the back presumably, but it's an interesing call nevertheless.
12.41pm GMT
Click-clack, click-clack the teams emerge from the DW Stadium tunnel, a tunnel I once inadvertently found myself in as the teams came in at half-time. I was lost.
Updated at 12.44pm GMT
12.45pm GMT
Peep! Off we go then. It's wetter than a prawn's bathing cap, but it's playable (unlike the pitch down the road at Ewood Park, where Blackburn v Brighton has been called off).
12.46pm GMT
1 min: McCarthy is indeed sitting in there at centre-half, perhaps with a slightly advanced, man-marking role on Cazorla.
12.47pm GMT
2 min: Sagna and Oxlade-Chamberlain combine down the right to win an Arsesnal corner
12.48pm GMT
3 min: comfortably cleared by the home side.
12.49pm GMT
4 min: Stam swings a low cross into the Arsenal area, but Arteta hoofs clear.
12.51pm GMT
5 min: The teams exchange possession cheaply in midfield then Stam breaks forward and feeds Di Santo down the right. His cross is Kone-wards but cleared.
12.52pm GMT
6 min: All a bit shapeless and scrappy thus far. Di Santo wangs a ludicrous cross beyond Kone after a quite glorious ball from Figueroa.
12.55pm GMT
8 min: Superb save Al Habsi! A fantastic inside pass from Cazorla in midfield sets Arteta breaking away onto the Wigan backline. He slides a pass out to Oxlade-Chamberlain and the winger's vicious shot is blocked brilliantly by the Oman keeper at his near post.
12.57pm GMT
10 min: Kone surges forward after a loose Cazorla header on halfway, but as he nears the edge of the box he shoots rather despairingly into the legs of the defender and it bobbles harmlessly through to Szczesny.
12.58pm GMT
12 min: Pass, pass, pass from Wigan
1.00pm GMT
14 min: It's Maloney's turn to break forward, but again Kone proves an elusive target in the area. That's three or four times the Ivorian hasn't been able to make space for himself inside the box. The passes into him haven't been great, granted, but he's hardly making it an easier for them with his (lack of) movement.
1.01pm GMT
15 min: Podolski gets a bobble and skews his shot from distance off towards Kendal.
1.02pm GMT
17 min: Wigan have been the better side so far and some of their passing has been really rather good indeed.
1.04pm GMT
18 min: "Looks like a goalfest is on the cards," writes Prateek Chadha, who in the usual course of things I would think was being sarcastic but it does genuinely look like there'll be a goal or two. Not yet, though.
1.07pm GMT
20 min: Beausejour picks the pocket of Cazorla but Arsenal swarm like Fifa executives over a tray of vol-au-vents and the danger is snuffed out.
1.11pm GMT
23 min: What a chance this is! Di Santo does brilliantly to pick out Kone's run. Mertesacker looks like he's running in treacle as he gives chase and Kone is clean through, but he drags his shot horribly wide of goal, a finish about as clinical as homeopathy.
1.13pm GMT
25 min: And the teams have a little breather.
1.14pm GMT
27 min: McArthur finds Stam superbly, but the Dutch wing-back can't squeeze his cross past the near post.
1.15pm GMT
29 min: Wilshere seems to be struggling just a touch after an uncomfortable meeting with the studs of David Jones about 10 minutes ago.
1.16pm GMT
30 min: "Wigan are such an unconvincing dominant team," writes Eoghan O'Sullivan. "Even when they're the better team, as they have been in the opening exchanges, it looks like things could fall apart in an instant." "Unconvincingly dominant" is the perfect description for this Wigan performance so far.
1.19pm GMT
32 min: The rain is still coming down at the DW but the surface seems absolutely fine at the moment. No one is slipping or sliding. To emphasise the point, Walcott twinkle-toes himself a yard of space inside the box but his shot is blocked at source.
1.21pm GMT
34 min: McArthur and Stam both slam crosses into Gibb's breadbasket. Least, I hope for his sake it was the breadbasket and not the rather more delicate objects nearby.
1.23pm GMT
36 min: Wilshere fizzes a pass into Cazorla that's far too spicy even for the Spaniard to control and Wigan break away but Beausejour is flagged offside.
1.24pm GMT
38 min: Despite their adventurous/seemingly suicidal 2-5-3 formation, Wigan seem to have plenty of numbers back whenever Arsenal attack. The Gunners need to move the ball, and move it forward, a little quicker.
1.27pm GMT
40 min: Anger! Fury! Players surrounding the ref! Wigan want Wilshere sent off, but replays show it was a forceful, but low, safe challenge. He gets booked, very harshly.
1.29pm GMT
42 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain surges down the right, but Figueroa does superbly to make the tackle and win a goal kick.
1.30pm GMT
44 min: Beausejour sends a low cross straight into the meaty palms of Szczesny. The Latics have played well, but their final ball has been awful at times.
1.32pm GMT
45+1 min: Podolski's had a first-half to forget. He's just handed the ball straight to Di Santo, who utterly wastes the opportunity to break.
1.33pm GMT
Peep! Peeeep! And that's half-time.
1.34pm GMT Another plug for our Christmas charity appeal
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1.47pm GMT
Stat dept: 22 crosses were attempted in that half. Two were completed.
1.47pm GMT
Email dept: "It looks like Arsenal's party theme this year is 'impersonate one of your team-mates'," writes Charles Antaki. "Oxlade-Chamberlain is winning hands down at the moment with his impression of Walcott's wing-play at it most characteristically awful. Podolski hasn't quite got it, and his "Invisible Man" is not going to feature among the prizes, accomplished though it is."
1.48pm GMT
Peep! Off we go again.
1.50pm GMT
46 min: Oxlade-Chamberlain gets round the back but his pull-back is brilliantly picked off by the always-underrated Boyce.
1.52pm GMT
47 min: Maloney goes scurrying down the left channel and looks to dazzle with a stepover, but this time Mertesacker does an excellent job of marshalling the forward away from goal and his cross is wild.
1.53pm GMT
49 min: Fine save from Al Habsi! Again Oxlade-Chamberlain gets round the back and this time his pull-back picks out the target. Walcott flicks the shot at goal first time, but the Wigan keeper reacts superbly to block.
1.54pm GMT
50 min: Figueroa attempts this. With predictable consequences.
1.55pm GMT
51 min: Dangerous free-kick to Arsenal, 30 yards from goal
1.55pm GMT
52 min: which Podolski humps into the wall. He's a prime candidate for the hook once Wenger starts to think about changes.
1.56pm GMT
53 min: Stam makes a proper fool of himself, handing possession to Cazorla by attempting a backheel that only cannons of his standing leg and into the path of the Spaniard, who he then fouls.
1.59pm GMT
55 min: Arsenal have certainly improved since the break. Oxlade-Chamberlain is giving Beausejour a torrid time now.
2.00pm GMT
56 min: Wilshere breaks forward but his pass is only in the vague direction of Walcott and Figueroa is there to intercept.
2.02pm GMT
58 min: Gibbs has space enough on the left to build a four-bedroom semi, but wangs his cross deep instead. Arsenal pick it up on the far side, Walcott cuts in front of Beausejour and tumbles it's a penalty!
2.03pm GMT GOAL! Wigan 0-1 Arsenal (Arteta 60pen)
Arteta calmly sends Al Habsi the wrong way and tucks it home.
2.05pm GMT
61 min: That goal had been coming since the break in truth. Beausejour is one of those players who makes you nervous whenever he's anywhere near either penalty area. Great engine, great pace, great movement at times but his crossing is appalling and he's also prone to the odd defensive clanger.
2.07pm GMT
62 min: Replays show the penalty was a tangle of legs rather than a trip, but there's little doubt Walcott was impeded. It was just a little unnecessary from the Chilean as he had cover. Wigan have given away more penalties than any other Premier League team since the start of last season.
2.08pm GMT
64 min: Franco Di Santo has been told to leave the pitch temporarily for no apparent reason whatsoever. It's very odd. The fourth official, Mark Halsey, looks as baffled as anyone.
2.09pm GMT
65 min: Walcott almost gives Wilshere a tap in with clever stepover, but a Wigan boot is in the way.
2.11pm GMT
67 min: That Di Santo incident was really odd. He got a talking-to for mouthing off to the ref, but then was sent from the pitch until the ball went out of play following a free-kick. Has John Moss just introduced the Naughty Step to the Premier League
2.12pm GMT
68 min: No he hasn't. Apparently Moss noticed Di Santo was wearing an ear-ring. That's much less interesting.
2.14pm GMT
70 min: Sagna nods away a corner but it falls out to Figueroa, who drops a shoulder and wangs a shot at goal. It takes a deflection that could so easily take it past Szczesny, but it's just close enough for the keeper to readjust and take it cleanly.
2.14pm GMT
71 min: Kone jinks and dinks inside then fires a shot in that Szczesny does well to save. Ear-ring-gate has got the home side fired up.
2.17pm GMT
72 min: Brilliant buildup from Wigan. Kone, Maloney, Beausejour and McArthur all involved, with the latter laying off for Jones to strike from the edge of the box. Szczesny can only watch as it fizzes past him and just wide of the post.
2.18pm GMT
74 min: Wilshere tumbles under Figueroa's challenge on the edge of the box. Dangerous free-kick
2.19pm GMT
75 min: which Walcott curls a yard over the bar. Slightly oddly, Oxlade-Chamberlain is replaced by Ramsey.
2.20pm GMT
76 min: McManaman replaces Di Santo, who might get a bit of a rollicking from his manager later on over that lobe adornment.
2.23pm GMT
79 min: More pass, pass, pass from Wigan as Arsenal mass their troops in defence.
2.24pm GMT
81 min: Mertesacker makes an important block as Stam gets clear down the right. Corner
2.26pm GMT
82 min: nodded away but it bobbles out to Figueroa 45 yards from goal. "SHOOOOOOT!" urge the Wigan fans, though they might wish they hadn't as the ball heads towards the roof of the stand behind the goal.
2.27pm GMT
83 min: "Feels like this could be a decent result for Arsenal away from home," fate-tempts Alex Carey. "I'm guessing that shows how far my expectations of Arsenal have dropped!"
2.29pm GMT
85 min: Shaun Maloney goes into the book for a tackle on Coquelin, who has sprung from the bench when I wasn't paying attention.
2.31pm GMT
87 min: "There was something inevitable about that penalty," notes Michael Cassidy. "Beausejour means 'great trip' in French."
2.31pm GMT
88 min: Wigan are beginning to get frustrated. They just can't get the ball forward.
2.34pm GMT
90 min: Gomez's shot gets deflected into 'The Mixer' but Kone can't quite bring it down and Mertesacker telescopes a leg out to poke the ball away.
2.35pm GMT
90+1 min: Four minutes of added time begin with Wigan screaming for a penalty as Gomez shoots from distance. The ball certainly struck Gibbs on the hands, and he was perhaps eight yards from the Wigan player. One of those where you can say: 'I've seen them given', but at the same time probably wasn't a penalty.
2.36pm GMT
90+3 min: Beausejour first-times a cross in. McArthur sidefoots wide. That might well have been the last chance for Wigan.
2.37pm GMT Peep! Peep! PEEEEEEEP!
And indeed it is.
Updated at 2.38pm GMT
2.42pm GMT So Arsenal make it three wins on the bounce
