In the end it was a great result, Wigan 1 – 4 Arsenal, the unbeaten run continues for now, but who amongst us thought that we would come out victors when Keiran Gibbs brought down Antonio Valencia at the end of the first half?

Walcott opens the scoring for Arsenal

It was clear that Gibbs was marked out as the weak link in our defence, their attack mostly coming from his area of the pitch. The youngster for the most part did his job admirably, and of course he made mistakes — trying to head back to the keeper from a distance was one, taking down Valencia once he realised the magnitude of his ill thought out header was a calculated risk, the ensuing yellow card was well worth the risk.

The starting line-up Wenger chose to employ looked like a team that was just enough to win the game, Wenger thought resting players for the more important Champions league return leg on Wednesday was a good idea. Steve Bruce must have looked at the team sheet and told his boys that the have a chance.

With the crowd at the JJB begin them a well organised Wigan team imposed themselves, not allowing Arsenal to get in their flow. We didn’t help ourselves with poor passing and an inability to hold on to the ball. Wigan was the better side in their first half, and no one could begrudge them going into the break with a 1 goal lead.

As if going 1-0 doing was not bad enough, we suffered yet another injury. Johann Djourou had to be replaced by Silvestre, when the Swiss went down with a knee injury. He will be out for Wednesday’s game, and while Silvestre is a seasoned pro, we would rather not have to depend on him to protect our goalie.

The back 5 for Wednesday will do well to keep Villarreal out. Fortunately for Arsenal, Marcos Senna is likely to miss the game after sustaining an ankle sprain. So it will be a depleted defence versus a depleted midfield.

Anyway back to the game, the 2^nd half produced a much more recognisable Arsenal, and with half an hour to go Bendtner — who had another afternoon to forget — flicked on a header to Walcott who somehow played it to Arshavin, the Russian was felled but had enough composure to get the ball on to Walcott’s feet for Arsenal’s equaliser.

From then on it was all Arsenal, and Wigan who had shipped 4 goals last week to Everton seem to have lost all appetite for the battle. Wenger went all out for the win, replaced Denilson — He must be feeling the effect of playing so many games at this level, with 31 league appearances and 12 cup games a total of 43 games at the top level, probably the most games by any player this season — with van Persie and Walcott with Adebayor in an attacking 4-2-4 formation. Arshavin was in the mix for the 2nd goal, combining with Cesc who got played the ball for an easy Silvestre tap in.

Arshavin then got the goal that he deserved and Song wrapped up the scoring with a mesmerising show of nimble feet and exquisite balance to cap another great performance.

This is one of those results that would have commentators eulogising on the team’s ability to win even when playing poorly, a true sign of championship material… . Alas this is Arsenal so we have to be content with another “lucky” win. At this point of the season considering how far we’ve come, it’s just another great result for our club. On to Wednesday an another lucky win would suit me just fine.

Walcott opens the scoring for Arsenal