Wigan vs Arsenal Preview, Team News, Likely Line-ups & Predicted Score

Arsenal travel to the DW Stadium on Saturday lunch-time to take on Wigan Athletic looking to climb into the top three in the Premier League.

After a disappointing few weeks, we’ve hit a bit of decent form in recent games (Bradford aside!) and back-to-back wins over West Brom and Reading have seen us move up to fifth in the table and just two points off third-placed Chelsea. So if we can make it three wins from three this weekend them we’ll leap-frog our London rivals into third.

We have a great chance to do so as Wigan are in poor form of late. Roberto Martinez’s side have won just one of their last seven games in the league – a run that’s seen them fall into the relegation zone – so we should be favourites heading into this one.

Team News

Arsenal have no fresh injury worries for this weekend. Andre Santos is still out with a stomach injury, while the enigma that is Abou Diaby is also still out with a thigh strain.

I’m hoping Arsene Wenger starts with the same side that beat Reading 5-2 on Monday. The front-three of Lukas Podolski, Theo Walcott and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain worked well and had a great blend of pace, movement and of course goals. I see no need to change things for the Wigan game although Olivier Giroud will be pushing for a start.

Wigan picked up a couple of injuries during last weeks 2-1 defeat to Norwich. Defender Adrian Lopez is out for up to 10 weeks with a hamstring tear which means Gary Caldwell is likely to place in the heart of defence.

Midfielder James McCarthy also picked up a knock but is expected to be fit but Ben Watson, Ryo Miyaichi and Albert Crusat are all out with long-term injuries.

Likely Line-ups

Predictions

Arsenal have a good record against Wigan, winning four and losing just one of our last seven visits to the DW Stadium. The Latics always seem to raise their game when the big-boys come to town though, so we know we’ll be in for a tough game. If the lads play like they did in the first half against Reading, we should win this conformably and I’m backing the Gunners to win this one 2-0. Wigan 0-2 Arsenal.

What would your line up be and what’s your score prediction for the game? Get involved in the comments section below.