By Rob Deyzel
Robin van Persie stole the show with a fantastic hat-trick against an inconsistent Wigan outfit. Arsenal were only 1-0 up at half time, but it should have been more. Van Persie scored the first of his three goals after 21 minutes firing a low shot passed the Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi. The rest of the half was a barrage on the Lactics goal with the Wigan shot stopper keeping the likes of van Persie from adding to his tally. Yet Arsenals dominance was not reflected in the scoreline. How often can that be said of Wengers side!
- Image by Getty Images via @daylife
The second half was more of a slow burner with nothing much of note in the first 15 minutes. Finally a superb Febregas pass was brought down by van Persie and expertly put pass Wigan’s man of the match Al Habsi. In the 70th minute things went from bad to worse with Caldwell been given his marching orders for a clear hauling down of the Gunners captain and a penalty to boot. Van Persie stood up full of confidence to complete his first hat-trick for Arsenal and blazed the ball over the bar! However the dutchman redeemed himself 5 minutes from time finally getting his third goal.
What can we make of the gunners performance today? Well in reality the game should have been dead and buried before half time and it wasn’t. The gunners still allow teams to have a sniff of a result when the game should be over. i do wish they would kill games off quicker and avoid that unnecessary tension and possibility of crazy unthought-of results that every now and again raise their ugly head. But praise does have to go to Arsenal as they did eventually kill off the game and a valuable 3 points were gained. To be honest I am surprised there has been no talk of Fabregas leaving this window, and long may it stay that way. I imagine to that Gunners fans are a little surprised that they seem to be still fighting for the EPL as in the past 5 years they have capitulated by now! Keep these results coming and silverware will be on the way to the Emirates.
