Al-Habsi, a man Roberto Martínez would normally put his shirt on, was exposed by two uncharacteristic blips within a minute as the contest took decisive shape just short of the half-hour. First, Mikel Arteta was allowed to advance unopposed from just inside home territory and take aim from 20 yards, his swerving effort rippling through the fingers of Habsi on its way. Then, seconds later, Thomas Vermaelen's back-post header from Robin van Persie's corner looped inside the upright as Habsi groped at thin air.
Before that dramatic 60 seconds, the nearest Arsenal came was when Arteta's teasing pass invited Theo Walcott to deliver from the by-line and Wigan's captain botched an attempted clearance which was pounced upon by Habsi.
Wigan welcomed Arsenal – the first in a quintet of fixtures in the run up to Christmas that also includes Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester United in improved health. Victory at Sunderland had gone some way to justify the faith of Martínez in their survival prospects but this result combined with others plunged them back to the bottom of the table.
There was a creative spark missing from Wigan, although the same could not be said of their bright young manager, whose idiosyncratic 3-3-2-2 formation was designed to combat the fluidity of Arsenal's passing game. Wenger's retaliation to the flooding of midfield, to switch his flank players Walcott and Gervinho, came within half-a-dozen minutes while Van Persie's penchant for a roam contributed to the early stages looking like a gigantic game of Twister.
Arsenal – whose transformation in form away from the Emirates has resulted in four straight wins – are moving through the gears in their bid to secure a 15th consecutive qualification for the Champions League. The 61st‑minute goal that sealed victory here was a throwback to the best Arsenal teams to have graced that stage.
A chain of 33 passes – the most to precede any Premier League goal this season – climaxed when Van Persie transferred the ball from left foot to right, and aimed a curling effort. Habsi repelled it but Gervinho pounced on the rebound.
Arsenal's players celebrated in the knowledge they had broken their opponents' resolve. "I did have what happened in the past in my memory when it was 2-0 and they started strongly in the second half," said Wenger, referring to the 3-2 defeat here in April 2010. Arsenal were also pegged back by a late equaliser for 10-man Wigan 12 months ago.
But momentum for Arsenal is currently taking them in a different direction after a sluggish start to the season. "At the moment all the teams up front are winning comfortably so it will be up to the teams that are most consistent," Wenger said, of the pursuit of a top-four finish.
No one is more consistent right now than Van Persie and it was almost inevitable that the Dutchman should register his 14th of the campaign, dropping off into space to convert Walcott's pull-back a dozen minutes from time.
For Wigan, it was a sorry and soggy start to a month that Martínez pre-match declared they would enjoy. "We had reached really good levels before this game but there are ways to lose and we lost too easily in the second part of this game," he said.
Source: Richard Gibson, The Guardian on 3 Dec 11
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