Gunners romp to 4-0 win over Wigan

FT Wigan 0 Arsenal 4

Arsenal moved into fifth place in the Barclays Premier League table with a thumping win over Wigan at the DW Stadium.

The hosts, who drop to the bottom of the table, began brightly but were undone by two goals in two minutes just before the half-hour mark as first Mikel Arteta’s shot evaded Ali Al Habsi’s grasp and then Thomas Vermaelen nodded in a corner.

Arsenal always looked likely to add to their lead in the second half and in the 61st minute Gervinho made it three before Robin van Persie added his customary goal 12 minutes from time after good work from Theo Walcott.

Moses has been Wigan’s biggest threat this season and he was certainly testing the Arsenal defence but he lacked support and Szczesny was having one of his quieter afternoons.

A decent break involving substitute Albert Crusat and Moses ended with Stam bursting into the area, and there was a muted shout for a penalty when he went to ground under pressure from Alex Song, but the contact looked minimal.

Arsenal then showed them how it should be done moments later as Walcott went on a fine run before setting up Van Persie, and this time the striker planted his shot firmly into the far corner.

A triple substitution saw Gervinho, Walcott and Song replaced by Arshavin, Francis Coquelin and Yossi Benayoun, and the latter would have made it five with a neat dink over Al Habsi had Caldwell not got back and headed the ball virtually off the line.