Milan hangover sees Arsenal held to Wigan stalemate
Arsenal draw for third consecutive league match in 0-0 at Wigan
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Sunday, 09, Mar 2008 06:20
Wigan have held Arsenal to a goalless draw at the JJB Stadium, taking the Premier League leaders' winless streak in the league to almost a month.
Arsenal, who hinted at a new order of European football by beating AC Milan 2-0 in the San Siro on Wednesday, have now drawn their last three league games.
Their result will come as welcome relief to Manchester United and Chelsea, who both suffered embarrassing FA Cup exits this weekend.
United are two points behind Arsenal having played one game less, while Chelsea can come within two points of the Gunners if they get maximum points from their two games in hand.
Coming after the glory of defeating the Champions League holders in one of the cathedrals of European sport, the awful condition of the pitch at the JJB probably came as a shock to the away side.
But it did not prevent Emmanuel Adebayor from racing on to a Cesc Fabregas through ball within 40 seconds of kick-off, with Wigan having Chris Kirkland to thank for diving on the ball.
Adebayor was set up again, this time by strike partner Nicklas Bendtner, but his shot was blocked by Mario Melchiot.
The pitch was severely hampering Arsenal's passing game, but Wigan largely failed to take advantage, with a blocked Jason Koumas drive their best effort on Manuel Almunia's goal.
The second half did see the introduction of Kolo Toure and Robin van Persie after long injury lay-offs, but the Dutch striker failed to test Kirkland from a long-range free-kick.
In the dying seconds Fabregas had the chance to steal the win when put through, but his shot was straight at Kirkland, who was by far and away Wigan's best player.
Arsenal have now not won in the Premier League since beating Blackburn 2-0 at home on February 11th, while Wigan's hard-earned point sees them rise three places to 13th.