Arsenal 1-2 Wigan Athletic

Only six days after having played Manchester United, we now faced Arsenal away, yet another venue we had yet to win at. But this time we didn't make any mistakes, like we did against Chelsea and were on the better side of a 2-1 result. Now we have pulled ourselves five points clear of the bottom three, and a major confidence boost towrads survival.

The one absentee which raised eyebrows, was that of Shaun Maloney who was replaced by Jordi Gomez. Wigan fans groaned and it felt like Arsenal already had won the small victory. But that was one decision which actually turned, eventually in our favor.

It didn't start well, and within the first five minutes I felt that it was going to be an Arsenal slaughter that we were all expecting. Missing Shaun Maloney wasn't helping, the Scottish midfielder had been the relief player in the central midfield and instead he had been replaced by a slow and soft Jordi Gomez.

Yet after Arsenal's second corner of the game. Wigan broke with the pace we know we have. Victor Moses on the wide left cutting past the Arsenal defence, before laying the ball forward to Jordi Gomez with just one man to beat. Gomez was then able to place a beautiful ball onto the feet of the waiting Franco Di Santo. The Argentinian chipped the ball over the on rushing Wojciech Szczesny, and tap the ball into the goal.

What a start!

It even got better for Wigan, as a minute later after winning the ball from the kick off, Victor Moses would pull out all his fancy tricks to get the ball past Bacary Sagna. The Nigerian's ball into the box would flick off James McArthur towards the Arsenal keeper, before Jordi Gomez would beat him to it to tap the ball home.

What is going on?

We even managed to carry on from there with Moses and Di Santo running around closing and charging at the Arsenal defence. If for a little pass here or there we could have scored another goal.

But it wasn't going to last forever and slowly but surely Arsenal worked their way back into the game. They would come close several time. Ali Al Habsi showing why the Wigan fans love him, as he pulled of two great save to denny Yossi Benayoun. The first was a save low to his left, the next came after a great cross into the box from Tomas Rosicky met his head, before Ali flicked it away.

Arsenal were slowly but surely turning the screw and it looked for all the world like they would get one back. And eventually they did, after some great defending by Wigan. It shows why you have to be outwards in football as the sheer pressure was just too much.

Thomas Vermaelen getting the goal after bursting forward into the box to bullet Rosicky's cross into the back of the net. You felt that would open the Arsenal flood gates, but yet Arsenal couldn't quite yet find that killer pass.

A combination of hard work and good goalkeeping would keep Arsenal out of the Wigan goal. Where pure luck was keeping Wigan out of Arsenal's. Breaking on the counter we looked sharp and deadly and three times we came close to scoring. The pick of the lot was a Franco Di Santo cross which fizzed across the Arsenal box, towards the awaiting Maynor Figueroa, before one of the defenders managed to clear.

The second half would surely bring the Arsenal onslaught. None of which i saw, covering myself away and resulting to only catching the last seven minutes of the game, where my heart was on my sleeve. But we dominated the game.

We started to enjoy good possession and the players were calm and cool, and looked to try and hit Arsenal wide on the counter attack. Victor Moses and Jean Beasuejour putting in heroic performances to harry and charge down the wing. Moses would go on to scoop the man of the match and you could see why.

Arsenal were looking to try and slip in behind our back three. They were culperates of what we had been doing earlier in the season. Trying to over play the ball and get in behind our defence, instead of looking to have a shot and create attacks with pace. Theo Walcott having a quiet game really helped Wigan.

Thomas Vermaelen would come close to getting his and Arsenal's second from a corner, following Tomas Rosicky's deflected shot. Robin Van Persie's corner was met from six yards but our defence put Vermaelen under great pressure, so his header cleared the cross bar.

Victor Moses was being the player to cause all the problems for Arsenal. His pace, trickery and his shooting ability would you believe it was showing why he is such a good player. Szczesny was keeping him out of scoring his third goal of the season.

Yet as you expect Arsenal were still plucking away and looking to try and get level. But Robin Van Persie was quiet and at every corner there was a Wigan defender to close him down and shut the door in his face. The closest he came to scoring was via assists from his corners.

It was getting closer and closer to nail biting time and Arsenal could always get that goal, and the introduction of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could have undone us. But Alcaraz and Figeruoa kept strong and let Caldwell take control of any dangerous situations, not that they occurred.

It was looking good, and five minutes of added time, could have killed us. Yet we held out, doing anything we could do to get the ball out of our half, and stop Arsenal getting into our half.

And then the whistle went. Giving three points to Wigan Athletic!