Carling Cup Match Analysis: Arsenal vs. Wigan Athletic – Arsenal stroll into semis (Part 2)
From the very first minute of the game, Arsenal were making their intent known. The team managed to win a very early free kick in a dangerous position in the second minute of the game. Van Persie took the resulting kick and he took it
brilliantly, the ball was whipped in quickly towards Bendtner who should have score with the goal exposed at his mercy, but the striker managed to direct his header just wide. The quickly taken free-kick managed to catch Wigan sleeping and showed that Arsenal
were in it to win in on the night.
With Arsenal looking the more dangerous in the opening quarter of an hour, Wigan were doing and trying their best to try and contain the home team. However all that resulted in was the Arsenal players getting even more into the game.
The early intensity was a little too much for Vela to handle as he went on to commit a late tackle and get into the referee’s book for that. That was the first card of the game and it was awarded to an Arsenal player. Despite dominating
early on the team was still looking to push on ahead, which meant that Arsene Wegner had some sort of a talk with the players, since they didn’t look like the same sloppy side that in the past let matches slip from their hands due to their inability to stay
focused.
However amidst the brilliance that was being shown by Arsenal a moment of stupidity at the back nearly cost them a goal. Eboue the team’s stand-in right back played a blind back pass towards his keeper, however his pass was not only mistimed,
but in fact it was directed towards a Wigan player. Boselli happened to be that player and the Wigan man intercepted the ball and started to stride towards the Arsenal goal, however the defence did just enough to knock him off track and the moment of madness
ended in relief for Arsenal.
However after the mistake by the Arsenal defender, the away team seemed to finally get a hold in the game. They were looking much sharper and looked to contain the Arsenal attackers quite well. Nonetheless being Arsenal it was bound to
be a temporary thing as in the past the Arsenal midfield has managed to rip apart even the most resilient of defences.
That happened to be just the case as in quick succession Arsenal created two glorious chances. First Jack Wilshere found Vela with a brilliant pass that the attacker managed to whip in towards the danger area. The ball was directed towards
Bendtner but Al Habsi the Wigan keeper did brilliantly to intercept the ball and deny the striker an easy goal.
(Continued in Part 3)
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