Arsenal vs Wigan Athletic
Venue: Emirates Stadium
K.O Time: 3:45PM Local Time

Arsenal will be looking to keep up their title chase when they face Wigan Athletic at the Emirates on Saturday. The Gunners have been on a good run lately, going five Premier League games unbeaten, as well as safely qualifying for the 4th round of the FA Cup by beating Leeds in their replay. Their opponents will be travelling to the Emirates on the back of a 4 match winless run which has dragged them into the relegation zone, below 17th place Aston Villa on goals scored. The match between these two teams earlier in the season resulted in a 2-2 draw, with Arsenal conceding late through a Sebastien Squillaci own goal to give away 2 points in a game they really should have won.

Wigan are yet to take any points away from Arsenal since their return to the Premier League in 2006. Their five visits to North London have conceded 13 goals thus far and in the corresponding fixture last season the Gunners romped to a 4-0 win. However, the only goal scorer from that win to feature this week will be Cesc Fabregas, with two goal hero Thomas Vermaelen out with an Achilles injury and Croatian striker Eduardo having left the club in the summer.

Likely starting XI - Arsenal Szczesny, Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Sagna, Wilshere, Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Van Persie.

Like starting XI - Wigan (4-5-1) Al Habsi, G. Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa, Gohouri, Thomas, Stam, Watson, N'Zogbia, Diame, Rodallega

sweet revenge for last seasons win and 2 points dropped in dec.
it can only be arsenal

Anoda match we must fight to win, Wigan are never push overs so we must bring our top game

Hope the home record can be improved .

lets pick dis precious point

gaaassssii

dats a goooaaaaal vp

@ All,

Any link for online viewing please? Thanks

Na wa for this keeper o. As far as we are just a goal up,the match is still open

lot of chance has been losted

amurx:

lot of chance has been losted

Chei!

Who losted it?

lol @ some balls we throw forward for Theo to chase sef, sometimes Im sure Theo himself will look at some of those balls and say 'I resemble Okada?'

DJ20 holding his shoulder, not good

Good goal

Everybody trying to prove something, I wonder why they can't keep up with the tempo

We need more goals to beef up d goal difference! And, what a flick from cesc

Bleep me! Van persie is shit

^

After two goals?

^^^ nah mehn! I was referring to the PK he blasted over

Arshavin is seriously lacking in confidence

How they manage to be three goals down eludes me!

Finally his hatrick! Welcome back, persie

Seriously, Ashavin can't seem to make a simple pass anymore! His positioning and off the ball run just don't cut it. How can a player go from hot shot to lukeworm within couple of months good result, though. . .

Congratulations

kashmo:

Seriously, Ashavin can't seem to make a simple pass anymore! His positioning and off the ball run just don't cut it. How can a player go from hot shot to lukeworm within couple of months good result, though. . .

To think he has the highest number of assists in the team

switch47:

Congratulations

Anytime,thanks

Wenger: 'We feel stronger in every game'

On Robin van Persie's form,
He is back in form. He was already fit and sharp last week and overall we had a good team performance so he could finish a hat-trick.

On not taking first-half chances,
The players were a bit frustrated because we did not take our chances but I felt in the first half we played outstanding football. We feel stronger and stronger in every single game. It is interesting the chance we have in front of us because we have an interesting game, the way we play is for me fantastic to watch. Let's just keep going.

On his attacking options,
Of course it is important to have Robin at this level but we have plenty of offensive players. First of all let's hope we can keep him fit until the end of the season. It is down to us to use him in the right proportion of the games we play.

On rotating the squad for Ipswich,
We will rotate, we have no choice. We play nine games in January, it's the most we have ever played. When you look at the fixtures we had in December it means we need to rotate from game to game. But we have fantastic players on the bench and it is very important because we cannot always play with the same XI.

On telling Van Persie when he will be rested,
He handles it alright. He is intelligent but of course he wants to play. He was at Leeds on the bench, he came on and scored.

On his penalty takers,
[Van Persie has] always [been the No 1 penalty taker]. What happened today will not change my mind. I find it's difficult to approve when the ball goes into the stand on the penalty, no matter how tolerant you are! I would have loved the ball to go in the net.

On keeping so many clean sheets,
We look more and more stable and defensively we were questioned a lot on that front. Maybe the fact you [reporters] ask me in every press conference 'do I buy a defender?' it keeps our defenders on their toes.

On the prospect of buying a defender,
I am open-minded on it and if the right opportunity turns up we will take it. We are not desperate, we have Vermaelen who can still play a big part in the end of the season and we have Squillaci who comes back maybe next Sunday. Song can play at the back too.

On finding the right player,
It is not two weeks to make your mind up, it is two weeks to find the right players. It is not just because you want to buy that you find exactly what you need. I think that if you look at the defenders who play the moment - we have Djourou and Koscielny, and Vermaelen who played before - we have always found the right players. Trust us - if the opportunity is there we will take it, if it's not we will play with the players we have, and I will not use that as an excuse if we don't win trophies.

On whether it is worth spending extra this time,
The question makes sense but practically it doesn't work like that. It is not because you have money available that you just find the player available, no? We have the needed money to spend if we want but the players you would want are not necessarily available. At the moment I feel that, unless we have a big problem at the centre back, we can deal with the situation.

On Cesc Fabregas' performance,
I think he was outstanding. At the end of the game he was frustrated because he didn't score but for me the ball he gave for the second goal was absolutely amazing. The second goal I could watch that and watch it and watch it again because it's just pure class from the pass to the finish.



Wenger World best coach of the Decade !! from the Arsenal Official site

i just like dat 2nd goal 4rm fabripass to van goal