Arsenal vs Wigan Athletic: Match Preview and football roundup

It’s been a long and hard 10 days without having to watch Arsenal strut their stuff on a football field. But, apart from that, the past few days have been anything but boring.

First, there was the announcement of retirement from management by Sir Alex Ferguson from Manchester United, before the resulting appointment of David Moyes from Everton to take on the soon-to-be-vacant position at Old Trafford.

Barcelona, Paris Saint Germain and Bayern Munich completed their title wins in their respective leagues and Wigan managed to snatch the FA Cup from Manchester City in a hotly contested final at Wembley to win their first piece of silverware in 87 years. Big spending Manchester City then sacked Roberto Mancini.

And in some of the big derby games around the world, Benfica were stunned by a late Porto winner, while Turkish champions Galatasaray slumped to a 2-1 defeat to bitter Istanbul rivals Fenerbahce. And finally, the Serie A clash between AC Milan and AS Roma was marred by a section of Roma fans racially abusing Milan’s players. Some thoughts on the same, then.

Let’s start off with Alex Ferguson. I would be dishonest if I said I did not admire the achievements of the Scot at Manchester United. He took the club from being a drink house to the world’s most popular football team, and the most successful English club in the space of 26 years, while instilling in the club a kind of winning mentality that not only intimidated opposition sides, but far too often referees as well.

13 Premier League titles, 2 Champions League titles, 5 FA Cups, 4 League Cups and a Club World Cup decorated his time at the club. He managed to buy some of the best footballers to have graced the Premiership, from Eric Cantona to Jaap Stam to, er..Juan Sebastien Veron to Cristiano Ronaldo.

There is no doubting that he retired at the very top, having safely toppled Liverpool off their perch by claiming United’s 20th crown, 2 more than Liverpool’s 18, a number which has been untroubled for over 2 decades now. He is by far the greatest manager in the league.

Well, as Arsenal fans, one can only fondly look back at the start of the millennium where Ferguson’s globetrotters pitted with Arsene Wenger’s greatest footballing sides for Premier League domination.

There were so many fantastic tussles, Arsenal winning 3-2 in the 1997/1998 season at home, before winning 1-0 at Old Trafford thanks to Marc Overmars, to eventually win their first title in 7 years. Then came a blinder of a goal from Ryan Giggs, on the way to a historic treble. There was the wonderful goal from Thierry Henry, numerous Barthez errors, the ‘Battle of Old Trafford’, which culminated in Martin Keown b***h slapping Ruud van Nistelrooy, the end of Arsenal’s unbeaten run, the FA Cup final win where the Gunners failed to turn up. Not to forget Roy Keane and Patrick Vieira having a go at each other at every possible occasion.

And then it all ended abruptly. Manchester United regained lost ground while Arsenal went into a long rebuilding process and victories over their foes became sporadic. Arsenal did the double in 2006/2007, before the Red Devils knocked out the Gunners in the FA Cup and won 2-1 at Old Trafford to claim the league title as well.

A Champions League exit would also follow, as Manchester United kept piling their trophy cabinet with silverware. Probably the greatest humiliation would come when Arsenal were pounded 8-2 at Old Trafford. Even though the club and its fans eventually recovered, they were destined to lose their prize asset, striker Robin van Persie to Manchester United, to further vent the fury of the Arsenal faithful.

While a part of me will miss the big Wenger – Ferguson tussles, which have gone cold in recent years, I also heave a sigh of relief to the see the red-nosed man finally leave his position as manager of our foes. It will be interesting to watch how the Red Devils will deal with change.

On the other hand, I have despised the same man for his ways. His abusive behavior, at times, towards the press, his ranting at the officials when something didn’t go his side’s way, his furious pointing at the watch to extend extra time, his constant demeaning of opposition managers, his disregard for the FA in general (I have a hunch he was their secret agent or something!), his moaning at decisions at the end of games he lost, and oh, his hypocrisy.

Has there ever been a bigger hypocrite, anyone with more double standards than him? He speaks highly of discipline on and off the pitch, while his players go kung-fu-ing rival fans, missing drug tests, intimidating referees, cheating and diving their way into winning penalties, defending his own players when it came to them committing any offence and in general his vile and abusive nature. Well, good riddance and thanks.

Now, on to the next thing on the agenda. And it is Wigan. The small club from Lancashire which has just about managed to survive it out with the big boys in England for 8 years now, are rightfully the FA Cup winners.

Dubbed instantly as the underdogs, they went into the FA Cup final against last year’s Premier League champions and big spending mega rich Manchester City, with some grit between their teeth and rightfully claimed the victory as their own.

The Latics compensated for their lack of natural footballing talent with a workmanlike performance to wear out a City side, sprinkled with household footballing names. The likes of Shaun Maloney, Jordi Gomez, Callum McManaman, Paul Scharner, Arouna Kone, James McCarthy among others put in a brave performance to eventually win it through a late Ben Watson header. Goes to show that money alone in football doesn’t win you trophies.

City have had a long hard season, and their fall from FA Cup and Premier League triumphs in the space of 2 seasons, amidst heavy splurging of cash to a trophyless season, branded as a failure has been well chronicled. It all would end up with the City board deciding to sack manager Roberto Mancini for having failed to win anything at all; with Malaga’s Manuel Pellegrini the forerunner to succeed at the Etihad. Goes to show how fickle the world of football management is at some clubs.

Wigan come today to the Emirates in good spirits, a FA Cup win under their belt, and a massive relegation dogfight ahead of them. A loss today would signal the end of the Latic’s 8 year stay in the premier division, as they join the list of clubs that have the dubious distinction of winning a cup and getting relegated the same season.

Arsenal have their own agenda, of winning in order to propel their chances of finishing in the top 4 in the Premier League to secure Champions League qualification for next season. It could all come down to nerves and the question of who wants it more.

Wigan will come into the game a bit leggy and weary having played 3 times in the space of a week, this being their 4th game in 10 days. This included some naturally tiring encounters, a 3-2 win at West Brom, a 3-2 home loss to Swansea and the 1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley; while Arsenal come into the game after a good 10 day break, their last game being a close 1-0 win over already relegated QPR – Quality Professionals Relegated.

The Premier League table proves to be a very interesting read. Chelsea and Tottenham have both played 37 games with 72 and 69 points respectively, while Arsenal now have played 36 games with 67 points on the board. Chelsea have a superior goal difference of +35, while Arsenal have +31, with Sp*rs lagging behind at +19.

Should Arsenal only manage a draw or even end up losing today, they would have to hope Sunderland do them a favor on the last day of the season, as they travel to White Hart Lane. And should that happen, Arsenal themselves will have to secure a win at Newcastle United, who are almost safe at this stage.

3rd place looks a bit beyond Arsenal’s reach and the only way to get there is to win both their remaining games, and hope Everton spoil Chelsea’s last day of the season. The Blues face Benfica in the Europa League final tomorrow evening. This should clear all possible permutations and combinations.

Right, team news then. Kieran Gibbs and Lukasz Fabianski are both fit. I expect Kieran Gibbs to be picked ahead of Nacho Monreal, with Wojciech Szczesny continuing in goal. Jack Wilshere will have a ‘minor’ surgery at the end of the season, and the manager would want to play it safe by keeping the Englishman out of the squad.

So, the midfield should be the quartet of Mikel Arteta, Tomas Rosicky; Arsenal player of the month Aaron Ramsey and Santi Cazorla. Olivier Giroud serves the last game of his 3 match suspension, which means Lukas Podolski and Theo Walcott should start up front. The manager revealed recently about his decision to sub the German early in most games this season.

For Wigan, Jean Beausejour may return after missing the match at Wembley, but Maynor Figueroa, Ivan Ramis and Ronnie Stam remain on the sidelines.

This is how I expect the teams to lineup.

Wigan employ an unconventional 3-5-2 formation. Emmerson Boyce, a right-back, partners Antonin Alcaraz and boyhood Arsenal fan and Austria international Paul Scharner in defence. You would do well to remember that Scharner scored against Arsenal on his Wigan debut during his first stint with the club in the League Cup semi-final way back in 2006.

Wigan will look to make it as tight as possible and use the same tactics as they did against City, shoring up midfield and defence and using their two full backs Giovanny Espinoza and James McCarthur to full effect. The cup final winner Ben Watson is expected to start in midfield, in place of Jordi Gomez, to support the hard working duo of James McCarthy and Callum McManaman.

Arsenal will have to release the hand break and have a go at Wigan right from the word go. In the past couple of games, Theo Walcott has managed to put the Gunners ahead with just seconds gone on the clock and Arsenal will require another such start and apply pressure on the Latics.

It could get interesting after an hour or so, when Wigan’s exertions of the past week come into play and they tire out. An Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain or a Gervinho introduced at this stage should be able to produce some fizz and pace for Arsenal, as they look for a win in a must-win game for both sides.

Last season, at almost the same stage, Arsenal lost 2-1 at home to a Victor Moses inspired Wigan who scored two quickfire goals through Franco di Santo and Jordi Gomez. A Thomas Vermaelen header reduced the deficit but an insipid and lackluster Arsenal failed to score again.

Such a result would be disastrous for the club, while a loss for Wigan would mean definite relegation. All ingredients set for an exciting encounter!

Enjoy the game wherever you are!