Wigan Athletic 0 Arsenal 1: Arsenal on a roll with three points at the JJB

Julio Baptista in action

Good to see Mickey in the crowd, as enthusiastic as ever and accompanied by his inevitable flag. Maria was clearly heard with her ‘Come on you Gunners' and the Arsenal end did their bit for the team on a blowy old evening.

A forgettable first half saw Wigan play a lot of long balls with Arsenal doing an impersonation of the sort of negativity you associate with the Chavs playing at both home and away. What little craft we showed came from Theo, what skills we showed came from Toure and Djourou who proved that quality defenders don't have problems with the long ball game. 4-5-1 played against 4-5-1 which is why the Premiership lacks that certain spark it had a few years back.

One passage of play saw Djourou keep Wigan out with a keen tackle after some fairly desperate defending. Most of the time however it was headed clearance after headed clearance. Baptista started the match but it took him a while to get the measure of the game. Flamini playing his 100th. match hustled and bustled, while captain Gilberto was always there to steady the ship. Flamini worked well but he's no pass master and while no one played badly we were fairly desperate for some creativity.

Freddie chugged quite effectively down our left but we couldn't hit a real fluid streak. We did however come good towards the end of the half which was maybe just about a moral victory for Wigan. One good move saw Adebayor fire wide. Wigan didn't have too much other than the odd snatched shot but included a shot from Heskey that Djourou blocked with his chest. It was hit hard and the block looked painful. Baines versus Walcott was an intriguing contest between two fine youngsters who will both surely be big stars in the future. Both teams lacked a killer ball and looking around you had to think that if one came it would probably be provided by one of our benchwarmers. Half time was a long time coming, and when it finally arrived it was still goal-less.

The second half was as exciting as the first was tedious. Wigan started with a dangerous cross and followed up with a great through ball by Camera that saw Heskey get a one on one with Lehmann. He didn't look in control though and the bobble didn't help but this was a great chance for Wigan to go ahead which they fluffed. Baptista was in at the other end to see his fierce shot saved. Heskey shot well over from range. A fine Clichy cross but Theo was forced too wide. This was end to end and the two halves were a total contrast.

Freddie fired one across the face of goal that Kolo nearly contacted. Keeper Kirkland was out to stop Adebayor from a sweet ball by Clichy. Our best chance to date came when Theo couldn't find the perfect ball to Adebayor after the pair of them had got well clear of their respective markers. A good chance wasted. At the other end Skoko shot at Lehmann soon after Kilbane had shot wide. Cock-ups and good moves came one after the other as Arsenal edged the corner count and possession but Wigan stayed ahead on chances.

Theo gets a run out

Wright's was the only booking of the game by referee Rob Styles when he took Freddie from behind. Baptista took the free kick well but it was just past Kirkland's near post. Johansson replaced Heskey on 67 minutes as I eagerly awaited Wenger's inevitable 70th. minute substitutions. Theo was starting to make things happen and Le Boss delayed his substitutions by four minutes. Van Persie and Fabregas finally arrived to replace Baptista and Flamini. Game on.

But it was Wigan that nearly went ahead when Skoko shot and Lehmann blocked, the loose ball fell to a blue shirt but Kolo saved the day with a crucial block. Adebayor shot wide following another good move that included, Freddie, Robin and Theo. Camara shot over, another one that bobbled. At this point I thought we were playing too many long balls. Fine ball from Cesc, which saw Adebayor go 49/51 with the keeper, one which Kirkland clearly didn't like. Equally it was one that Emmanuel was entitled to go for.

Cesc then did his stuff; a perfect tackle won the ball, he took a return pass moved it forward and hit a perfect long ball that took out four or five defenders as Adebayor, on the last mans shoulder, broke clear. He kept his cool in what little time he had and poked the ball low past Kirkland who was in front of the travelling Gooners. So much for my long ball theory. Eighty-seven minutes on the clock and 0-1 to the Arsenal. We had three minutes left plus three minutes of added time during which Hoyte replaced Theo. A ratty late tackle from behind on Cesc, a long-range power shot from Baines, a couple of defensive errors to get us at it, shots over from Camera and Landzaat. Three more points to Arsenal move us up to third place.

Wigan hadn't taken their chances while we took ours; it's what winning is all about.