SOCCER/Arsenal 2 Wigan Ath 1:Arsenal are making a habit of spectacular finishes at this stadium. If Arsene Wenger and his players will not take quite the pleasure from this comeback as they did from their late win over Manchester United three weeks earlier, the celebrations off and on the field that greeted Tomas Rosicky's clinching header showed it still meant a good deal to them to defeat Wigan and move back into fourth place in the Premiership.
For the 14th time this season Arsenal have come from behind to take at least a point and they are certainly doing things the hard way. The elation for them at scoring twice in the space of four minutes in the closing stages was mirrored by depression for Wigan, for whom every point is precious in their quest to avoid relegation and the afternoon ended up bubbling with animosity.
Paul Jewell's scathing comments about the referee, Phil Dowd, formed only part of that. Thierry Henry showed less grace with the ball in his hands than he does with it at his feet when he shoved it at Chris Kirkland after Arsenal equalised, feeling Wigan's goalkeeper had been guilty of timewasting. Henry had further pointed words with Kirkland but appeared to regret his conduct judging by the way he placed an arm round Kirkland's shoulder at the end and apparently apologised.
It was easy for the victors to behave magnanimously. For Wigan the pain will take some time to subside. Ahead through a brilliant Denny Landzaat strike, their defending was brave and strong before their resistance was broken twice and they should have had a penalty shortly before Arsenal equalised when Mathieu Flamini shoved Emile Heskey as the striker bore down on goal. Dowd said he could not be sure from his angle it was a spot-kick. A penalty then would have brought a red card for Flamini and surely changed the course of the game.
To add to Wigan's frustration Flamini was offside when he collected an Emmanuel Adebayor pass and supplied a cross that Fitz Hall slid into his own net for 1-1, though sympathy for that was diminished by the fact that Adebayor had seen an effort wrongly ruled out for offside about 10 minutes earlier.
Wigan probably merited a draw but paid for Heskey's failure to take chances that would have put them 2-0 ahead, the first of which admittedly drew a good save from Jens Lehmann. Their defeat will be a relief to the teams below, though they are five points above 18th-placed West Ham with a superior goal difference and a game in hand. "We matched them for endeavour, if not for quality," Jewell said. "If we play like that for the rest of the season we will be fine."
Jewell, unlike many visiting managers here, played with two strikers and, although Arsenal dominated possession and territory, the home team struggled to make chances for long periods. They enjoyed a bright opening 25 minutes during which Henry ought to have scored from a Theo Walcott cross and they went close on two other occasions but then made few chances until the breakthrough.
Yet this confirmed Arsenal are not easily beaten. They have fallen behind 11 times in 19 home games but are yet to lose here and to that can be added instances such as equalising at Middlesbrough with 10 men and coming from 2-0 down to draw at Tottenham in the League Cup.
It was a terrific goal that put Arsenal behind. A long Matt Jackson ball turned Arsenal's defence and after Johan Djourou had only poked a Julius Aghahowa cross out of the penalty box, Landzaat seized on the loose ball just under 30 yards out, took one touch and then drove a powerful shot into the far corner.
Arsenal were fortunate Heskey twice failed to beat Lehmann when set up by Ryan Taylor and their search for an equaliser made the second half one-way traffic, though Wigan retained a threat on the break.
An equaliser had not looked inevitable until Adebayor found Flamini and the Frenchman's cross was turned in by Hall. Their tails up, Arsenal struck again.
A slick move saw the ball switched from Rosicky to Adebayor and on to Baptista, whose cross was met with a header by Rosicky from close range. It was understandable Jewell said he was "pigsick but proud".
Guardian Service
