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Played
September 19, 2009 5:00 PM BST
Emirates Stadium
Referee:‬ Michael Jones‎
 
 
 
59′ Eduardo
 
 
90′ +3
The FULLTIME whistle is blown at the Emirates. Arsenal make it two wins out of two at the Emirates. With Arshavin and Walcott to return, Arsenal will grow even stronger. Roberto Martinez's side have a long season ahead of them. After their opening day win at Villa, Wigan have been extremely poor. For now though, Arsene's men have gunned down Wigan at the Emirates. Stay tuned for Live Coverage of West Ham v Liverpool next. This is Goal.com's Akarsh Sharma signing off!
 
90′ +3
Tomasz Rosicky almost puts a five-star cherry on top of a delicious Arsenal cake! Bendtner does well down the right again and sets it up for Rosicky who can only shoot straight towards Kirkland!!
 
89′
CESC FABREGAS makes it FOUR-NIL to Arsenal! After Van Persie fails to make space, he prods the ball forward to Bendtner on the right who zips it across the face of goal for Cesc to score at the near post...
 
89′
Goal Cesc Fàbregas
 
87′
Bendtner heads over from 8 yards out!! Melchiot does well to put him under pressure otherwise the Dane would have made it four!
 
84′
Thomas heads wide!! He should have scored! From a Wigan corner, Thomas leaps over the Arsenal defence to gain a free header but he puts it wide of Mannone's left-hand post....
 
82′
GOAL RULED OUT! For Offside! Scotland does brilliantly to make room in the box and shoot low to Mannone's right! But the Arsenal keeper makes a great save! The ball rolls on and comes out after hitting the post for Scharner to put it in! But he was miles offside...
 
78′
Van Persie's right-foot shot is blocked after a lovely passing move from Arsenal sets up the dutchman on the edge of the box!!
 
76′
Rodallega powers a free-kick from 30 yards but straight down Mannone's throat. The Arsenal keeper does well to hang on to the ball though it was no Ronaldo strike and he is expected to catch those.
 
73′
Emmanuel Eboue and Eduardo go off to a standing ovation given by whole of the Emirates stadium. But an even bigger cheer goes up as Rosicky comes on for his first competitive game at the Emirates since January last year!
 
72′
Substitution Emmanuel Eboue Tomas Rosicky
 
72′
Substitution Eduardo Nicklas Bendtner
 
69′
Another chance to make it four!! Ramsey is set-up in the centre by Eduardo from the left but he cannot keep his right-foot effort down and the ball sails over the bar. That was a decent chance for the Arsenal youngster, who has just been introduced to the game replacing Diaby.
 
68′
Gael Clichy sends a long-ball towards Eduardo who controls quite brilliantly and shoots!! But Kirkland closes him down and Wigan survive another attack! Route one stuff from Arsenal there for a change - extremely effective though!
 
65′
Substitution Abou Diaby Aaron Ramsey
 
65′
Almost four ! Alex Song drops his shoulder and skips past Thomas to drive through the heart of the Wigan midfield. His left foot effort from the edge of the box beats Kirkland only to find the outside of Kirkland's right hand post !!
 
64′
Yellow Card Paul Scharner
 
63′
Arsenal look to have put the game to bed. A lull in the proceedings now as Arsenal knock the ball around trying to find little gaps in Wigan's defence.....
 
59′
GOOAAL!! Arsenal go three up as EBOUE who deflects the ball into the Wigan net. Gael Clichy, down the right for a change, does well to find Eduardo on the far post but his shot comes back off the post to find Eduardo again...whose shot is finally deflected into the goal!
 
59′
Goal Eduardo
 
58′
The substitutions almost worked as Rodallega goes clean through on goal but can shoot straight to the goalkeeper! First clean chance for Wigan and Rodallega should have down better...
 
57′
A double substitution from Roberto Martinez to freshen things up for Wigan and give much more support to Rodallega..
 
56′
Substitution Jordi Gómez Jason Scotland
 
56′
Substitution Jason Koumas Paul Scharner
 
53′
Yellow Card Jordi Gómez
 
53′
The only team which looks like adding to the scoreline is Arsenal. Martinez needs to change things to get back into the game..
 
49′
GOAAAL! A brace for Thomas Vermaelen! Arsenal's new top goalscorer pops up on the edge of the box and his left-foot strike finds the roof of the net after being set-up by Van Persie. That was a strike Van Persie himself would be proud of! Arsenal are 2-0 up...finally!
 
48′
Goal Thomas Vermaelen
 
48′
Fabregas delivers a beautiful ball to Van Persie who knocks it down for Diaby to shoot! But Bramble is in the way to prevent the danger...
 
46′
The second half gets underway at the Emirates Stadium...
 
 
The second forty-five in a few minutes time....
 
 
Interesting first forty-five minutes at the Emirates. The game should have had more goals by now especially Arsenal's point-of-view but Wigan, who have hung on to one-goal deficit till half time, are still in the game. Arsenal have looked slightly vulnerable at the back though and Roberto Martinez's side has grown into the game by the minute!
 
45′ +3
Halftime whistle blows at an entertaining first 45 at the Emirates...
 
45′ +1
Should be two now! Surely! But no.... Van Persie finds himself all alone in the middle of the penalty area! No Wigan defender in sight! But he controls on the chest and scuffs his shot wide! Kirkland did not come to close him down as Van Persie expected him to, making the miss look even worse!
 
43′
Chris Kirkland makes a wonderful save low to his left! Van Persie brilliantly directs Eduardo's low cross from the left towards goal but Kirkland does well to keep it out and hang on to the ball as well.
 
41′
Another opportunity for Wigan! Slick passing in the middle opens up a gap in the Arsenal defence and Diame finds space, but Sagna does brilliantly to slide in and prevent a shot. Only a corner to Wigan but could have been more..
 
39′
Yellow Card Alexandre Song
 
38′
Total chaos in the Arsenal penalty area! Gomez's corner is headed towards goal by Boyce but Mannone is there to parry it away only to Bramble and Mannone again along with two other defenders throw themselves at Bramble to clear it away. The ball wasn't cleared yet but Rodallega's audacious, ambitious overhead goes aimlessly wide...
 
35′
Eboue shoots just wide!! The Ivorian is released down the right and has the pace to go through on goal but chips it over a sliding Kirkland just wide of goal. Needed to use his left foot or outside of his right foot. Great chance to go 2-0 up...
 
33′
Gomez floats in a cross to the back post after taking a short corner. Bramble meets it and heads towards goal, but it's cleared into the stands by Diaby. That was a rare effort from Wigan, though it was harmless in the end...
 
30′
Wigan again displaying how uncomfortable they are defending a corner. The first clearance doesn't clear the box but the second does it's job, unconvincingly though!
 
29′
Intelligent run from Fabregas through the centre of the Wigan midfield. He sucks Mario Melchiot into the centre and releases Eduardo down the left, but his cross is eventually blocked by a great recovery from Super Mario! Corner to Arsenal though....Vermaelen time again?
 
25′
GOAAL! THOMAS VERMAELEN powers a cracking header into the net from a Van Persie corner. After all the geometric movements and intricate passing, a simple corner-header routine puts Arsenal in front....
 
24′
Goal Thomas Vermaelen
 
23′
Yellow Card Emmanuel Eboue
 
23′
Eduardo provides a brilliant cross which evades all the Wigan defenders and reaches Eboue on the far post, who heads towards goal but Kirkland's feet are in the way!! Eboue is booked because he used his arm there and not his head. The Ivorian can never be in a refs good books, can he?
 
20′
Eboue does brilliantly to drive into the Wigan penalty area on the right and cuts it back to Van Persie six yards out!! But it's slightly behind the Dutch man and he cannot direct it towards goal! The ball goes agonisingly wide! If it was RVP's left foot, it would have found the net.
 
19′
Eboue finds himself in space on top of the box but shoots over the bar when he should have atleast made Kirkland work! To be fair to the Ivory Coast international, it was on his weaker foot...
 
17′
Robin Van Persie sends a free-kick INCHES WIDE of Kirkland's right hand post. The keeper was completely beaten. A silly free-kick conceded by Gomez on the edge of the box almost cost Wigan dear there!
 
14′
Wigan make a mess of clearing away an Arsenal corner and William Gallas climbs high to head towards goal which beats Kirkland but is cleared OFF THE LINE! Wigan stay level for now, but for how long?
 
11′
Arsenal GK, makes a mess of a pass to Clichy and Thomas swoops in but his pass to N'Zogbia is too light and is cleared away by Gallas. That was a chance to create a goal-scoring opportunity wasted by Wigan...
 
8′
Robin Van Persie is given space in the penalty area but he spins and shoots well over the bar. Wigan cannot afford to give Van Persie space in the box...
 
7′
Good move by Wigan as they try to build up an attack. Rodallega's left foot attempt at goal from outside the box is blocked. The young Arsenal Goalkeeper collects easily.
 
1′
We're underway at the Emirates...
 
 
ARSENAL LINE-UP: Mannone, Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Eboue, Song Billong, Fabregas, Diaby, Eduardo, van Persie. Subs: Szczesny, Rosicky, Ramsey, Silvestre, Wilshere, Gibbs, Bendtner. WIGAN LINE-UP: Kirkland, Melchiot, Boyce, Bramble, Figueroa, Thomas, Diame, N'Zogbia, Gomez, Koumas, Rodallega. Subs: Pollitt, Edman, Cho, Scharner, Scotland, Sinclair, King.
 
 
After two defeats in Manchester and a remarkable recovery in Belgium, Arsene's men are finally home again. As they host Wigan Athletic, Goal.com brings you LIVE COVERAGE of all the action from the Emirates Stadium.
 
Results
 
Top Scorers
Player   Goals Penalties
Robin van Persie Robin van Persie
Striker
Arsenal
30 2
Wayne Rooney Wayne Rooney
Striker
Manchester United
27 6
Kun Agüero Kun Agüero
Striker
Manchester City
23 3
Aiyegbeni Yakubu Aiyegbeni Yakubu
Striker
Blackburn
17 4
Emmanuel Adebayor Emmanuel Adebayor
Striker
Tottenham
17 3