On Sky
Wigan Athletic travel to the Emirates Stadium hoping to continue with their recent good form that saw them climb out of the bottom three for the first time this year on Wednesday when champions elect, Manchester United came unstuck at the DW Stadium
The Latics have been playing exceptionally well for the past few weeks and are hitting good performances just when the need is there, another positive result tonight and the threat of relegation will fade a little more.
Getting a positive result against Arsenal though is easier said than done, history doesn’t favour the Latics for every time we’ve travelled to London to face the Gunners we’ve returned empty handed, but this appears to be the season to break all the hoodoo’s and a point would be a great result
What The Boss Say’s:
Latics boss Roberto Martinez – ‘We are going away from home and playing against a side who have been as successful as ever at home.’
‘If you look at Arsenal’s last few performances they have been untouchable in the way they are playing their football, controlling games and scoring goals. But we know that if we are at our best we can be competitive’
‘So we know what we’re up against, but we need to focus on our performance and concentrate once again on being as good as we can be, hoping that after the points dropped at Chelsea we might perhaps get the little bit of luck we deserve this time round.
‘As long as we perform to our best I believe we can compete with anybody in this division.’
Arsenal Team News:
Gibbs and Gervinho could return for the Gunners
Arsenal from – Szczesny, Vermaelen, Djourou, Sagna, Jenkinson, Santos, Benayoun, Walcott, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Song, Ramsey, Arteta, van Persie, Squillaci, Park Chu-Young, Fabianski, Rosicky, Chamakh, Gibbs, Gervinho
Player to watch: Robin van Persie
Class striker always likely to score
Wigan Athletic Team News:
Rodallega could feature on the bench, expect an unchanged side for the sixth game on the run
Latics probable – Al-Habsi, Boyce, Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa, McCarthy, McArthur, Beausejour, Maloney, Moses, Di Santo
Player to watch: Shaun Maloney
Maloney has been sensational recently
Shaun Maloney – Man on fire
By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic
Any Previous?
Latics and Arsenal have met 17 times
Latics 2 wins, Arsenal 13, draws 2
Ref Watch:
Andre Marriner (Warwickshire)
Take a look at our ‘Meet The Ref’ article
Andre Marriner Card Watch 2011/12
Games – 23, yellows 76, reds – 5
Match Prediction:
Going for a 1-1 draw with both head and heart
Up Next:
Premier League
Fulham v Latics
Craven Cottage
Saturday
21/04/12
3pm
Latics v Newcastle
DW Stadium
Saturday
28/04/12
3pm
