Arsenal vs. Wigan Athletic: Gunners up to fourth, Latics go down

That goal was a backbreaker for Wigan, and things only got worse from there. Cazorla won a 50-50 header on a bouncing ball in the 68th minute, catching the Wigan defense out. Podolski ran onto the ball and chipped over Joel to double Arsenal’s lead. They put the game to rest three minutes later when Cazorla played Ramsey in behind the defense and the Arsenal midfielder finished into the roof of the net from a narrow angle.

With Wigan dejected and Arsenal content with a three-goal lead, the rest of the match was uneventful. For the first time since 2005, Wigan Athletic will spend a season outside the top flight of English football.

The marking from Wigan was atrocious on the goal, with no one finding the ball or the man who eventually scored. Cazorla’s corner was allowed to take a big bounce in the penalty area before reaching Podolski, who was waiting unmarked at the back post. He capitalized on the free chance for a tap-in.

If this match stays tied, it’s a bit of a disaster for both sides, so Maloney’s strike has set up what will likely be a spectacular second half.

Kickoff is at 7:45 p.m. local, 2:45 p.m. ET from the Emirates Stadium. You can see the game on FOX Soccer in the U.S. and Sky Sports 1 in the U.K.

• Wigan going out in a blaze of glory

“It’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all” is, as anyone who’s reached adulthood is aware, a contender for the most maudlin, useless, and just plain wrong cliché that it’s possible to utter to console anyone dealing with loss. “It’s better to be sitting on the sofa, eating crisps and watching Frasier re-runs than to have loved and lost” doesn’t flow quite so well, fair enough, but that doesn’t make the original version good advice. Some variant of it will likely be trotted out should Wigan Athletic fail to win tonight, but in light of their recent heroics, it may be the only time that it’s actually made sense.

Wigan’s relegation and decline is perhaps inevitable - they are, by no yardstick, a big club, and they have largely been bankrolled by Dave Whelan, who is now of advanced years and hardly splashing wealth around like an oilman linked to a country with a highly questionable human rights record in any case. They were always going to suffer the drop at some point, and one day they’d go down and in all likelihood never return.

Arsenal injuries and suspensions

Out: Abou Diaby (knee), Olivier Giroud (suspension) In doubt: None