Arsenal condemn Wigan to relegation - and give themselves the best chance for Champions Leauge all season

Wigan became the first FA Cup winners to be relegated from the top flight in the same season after a 4-1 defeat to Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium sent them down.

 

Shaun Maloney's free-kick sent Wigan into half-time on terms after Lukas Podolski had given Arsenal the lead.

But hopes of a dramatic escape were washed away by a flood of catastrophic defensive lapses as Arsenal struck three times in eight minutes through Theo Walcott, Podolski and Aaron Ramsey.
Wigan lurched painfully from triumph to despair just three days after winning the FA Cup for the first time in their history with a 1-0 win over Manchester City at Wembley.

Owner Dave Whelan now faces losing not only his club's top flight status, but his manager Roberto Martinez and leading players including Maloney and Callum McManaman.

They are marooned in 18th place, four points behind Sunderland and five behind Aston Villa whom they play on the final day - those two clubs can breathe long sighs of relief after a trying season. Wigan join QPR and Reading in the Championship.

Arsenal now need a win at Newcastle on Sunday to guarantee fourth place and Champions League football at the expense of North London rivals Tottenham Hotspur.

Martinez banned alcohol after Wigan's Wembley triumph, but Arsenal attacked vigorously from the off in search of a Cup final hangover and found their opponents - metaphorically at least - reaching groggily for the Alka Seltzer after 72 hours of celebration.

Walcott, effervescent down the right wing, crossed for Santi Cazorla who nipped in front of his marker but headed wide of the right-hand post.

Wigan found themselves under the sort of pressure Manchester City could not muster and soon cracked in miserable fashion.

Cazorla delivered a corner from the Arsenal left and Podolski somehow found himself completely unmarked as he headed the bouncing ball in from six yards.

Roberto Martinez's side barely had a kick, let alone a shot, in the first haf-hour, but they gradually came into the game through the ever-lively Maloney and McManaman.

Maloney won and scored the equalising free-kick amid controversy - the Scot appeared to back into Mikel Arteta as he was tackled but Mike Dean penalised the Arsenal captain.

Maloney punished him with a beautiful free-kick that flashed over the wall and into the right corner of the net.

Wigan needed victory to maintain any realistic chance of survival and continued to attack after the break - however without the injured Maynor Figueroa their awful defending cost them dear.
On 63 minutes Antolin Alcaraz failed to cut out a Santi Cazorla cross and Walcott stole in to finish from close range.

Shortly afterwards Podolski grabbed his second after Paul Scharner played him miles onside, allowing the German to collect a headed Cazorla through ball and lift the ball past Joel Robles.
Ramsey then drove the final nail in the coffin, dribbling inside from the left, deceiving Joel with his eyes and finding the far corner from a tight angle.

Poorly as Wigan defended, the damage was done well before tonight - though Martinez still emerges from this season with credit, he will wonder how a side capable of such heroics could end up in the second tier

Wayne Rooney to Arsenal?

After Sir Alex Ferguson's fair well game at Old Trafford today he said in the interview after that Wayne Rooney had asked for a transfer. There has been speculations that Rooney has been unhappy lately but now that it has been confirmed a lot of clubs have show interest in the English superstar.
There has been talks that Arsenal is one of these clubs. This sounds ridiculous seeing as Arsenal have only spent over 15 million on a small handful of occasions and that the price tag for Rooney would be on a scale never before seen at the Emirates.
One would think that a name like Wayne Rooney's would have a price tag of 30-40 million but this isn't the case, it has been said that a 25 million bid would be required for Manchester United to let him leave. This would still be a record breaking buy for the Gunners but with them spending big this summer it is looking very possible financial wise.
Arsenal were already looking for a record breaking buy this summer with Steven Jovetic but now that Rooney has come available will the Gunners be making there two biggest buys in one summer? If so these two buys would be over half of the Gunners summer budget for sure.

The Pros and Cons of signing Wayne Rooney

PRO: it sends out a message to the fans that big transfers flow in both directions. Arsenal fans have had to endure summer after summer of selling there top players and watching them win titles with other clubs. A Wayne Rooney buy would show Arsenal fans that the Gunners are capable of buying the top players as well as building them.

He would also contribute greatly to the attack of the Gunners at his best Rooney has tremendous vision and execution of a range of passes on the ball, he can beat defenders with strength and subtle touches of the ball, his movement is good in the final third, and he certainly knows where the goal is.
He can also be counted upon to put in a real shift and work hard for the team cause in a variety of positions.

Wenger could play Rooney as an outright forward instead of Olivier Giroud, this not only improves Arsenals outright attack but it also allows the likes of Santi Cazorla to keep his position behind the attack. In the season of 2011-2012 when Rooney did play this more attacking position he racked up an amazing 27 league goals.
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What is becoming increasingly clear is that Rooney needs a new challenge. He has been substituted, or starting on the bench, far too often in recent months for a player of his quality and importance, and he no longer appears to be the obvious choice to make things happen for United when they are struggling to break down the opposition. He needs a new challenge and the Premier League is his home.


CON: the price for Rooney would be more then the Emirates have ever seen and while Arsene Wenger has plenty of money to spend this summer he has always had difficulty in buying quality players for a big some of money. Not only that he is 27 years of age and that is well over Wengers average big transfer buys witch is about 24 years of age.

Rooney plays in a central attacking position and has the licence to roam during attacks, dropping deeper into an additional support midfield role in transition play and when defending. This is arguably the most stacked position on the Arsenal team. Santi Cazorla has proven an excellent addition and plays in that role more often than not, while Jack Wilshere, when not injured, also thrives in the role. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Lukas Podolski, Aaron Ramsey, Tomas Rosicky all can feature in that role also, so with the addition to Rooney it will only cause problems in the starting XI.

There is one final complication for Arsenal to bear in mind, which is of course the spending power of rival clubs who might see Rooney as a transfer target. Within the Premier League, should Rooney choose to remain in England, only Manchester City and Chelsea would be able to match both the transfer fee and his wages, which are reported at around £200,000 per week. Chelsea and Man City will also both be in the Champions League next season, which Arsenal have yet to guarantee themselves, and the blues have a Europa League cup final to look forward to as well—while City were defeated in the FA Cup final on Saturday. Arsenal failed to make any kind of impact in the cups this season and have gone eight long years without a trophy. Also the likes of PSG and Real Madrid are looking for some new signings and a big club like Real Madrid could be very tempting.