Wigan and Arsenal will look for a spot in the FA Cup final this Saturday at Wembley. Wigan, reigning champions, sneaked in against the odds again to book a place into semi-finals, eliminating City on their way to emulating their feat form last year. In the other corner, Arsenal are the natural favourite to win the competition, putting nine years of no titles to an end in north London.

The giant killer hits again

Wigan Athletic have turned FA Cup into their fetish, fighting their way back to Wembley. Last season, they lifted the cup as they defeated the all powerful Manchester City 1-0, with a last-breath effort by Ben Watson. Roberto Martínez took one of the humblest squads in Premier League history up to the top of the English football. About a year later though, neither Martínez nor the Premier League is associated with the Latics anymore but with Uwe Rosler at the helm, the team from Lancashire are only two matches away from touching the sky again.

Without a lot of noise, the Latics got rid of three Premier League clubs: Crystal Palace (2-1), Cardiff City (2-1) and Manchester City (2-1), the last of which, the colossal citizen, fell in the quarter-finals with a majestic performance by Wigan at Etihad Stadium. Goals by Gómez and Perch took advantage of lapses by the defenders and sealed the 0-2 vicotry, eventually enough for Wigan’s interests. One would say they have City under control.

It is precisely the courage and motivation that Wigan are not short of. They look for revenge against the club who sentenced them to the Championship. A few days after Wembley, Wigan paid a visit to the Emirates, compelled to win and not wave Premier League goodbye. Bob’s pupils could not harm the Gunners, defeated by a brilliant 4-1 scoreline.

In the Championship, Wigan feel comfortable in fifth place with 67 points, in with a chance of the play-offs. They are too far from the second stage, which would promote them straight up to PL, that seat is taken by Burnley, with 83 points. Nevertheless, Wigan enjoy a six point gap over their adjoiners: Brighton, Ipswich and Bournemouth. Last weekend, Wigan knelt down to Millwall, who are fighting relegation to League One. For this game, Uwe Rosler cannot line up last season’s hero Ben Watson and Chris McCann either.

Now or never

The FA Cup is now the Gunner's last hope for the season. The team started battling for everything, top of Premier League and beating great teams in the Champions League. But as the season went on, Arsenal have lost most of their grip and now they are barely struggling to claim fourth spot. Some could say this has been a sloppy season for them, but if Wenger is grabbing some silverware by the end of the season, everything else will be forgotten.

Arsène Wenger’s ride could be about to terminate, and breaking through this nine year crisis could be the icing on the farewell cake for the Wenger – Arsenal marriage. The manager from Alsace faces his last chance to justify his stay in north London and the players should really hit the ground running for the two games remaining in the competition.

Arsenal is the blatant favourite both for this match and for the cup. Wigan play in the Championship, they were beat up last year by them, so 'The magic of the FA Cup' is not expected to make an appearance. If the Gunners go through, they will clash with Hull City or Sheffield United, a League One team. Therefore, tailwind blows for Arsenal, which is most worrying for those who know the club. This draw, involving teams much inferior to them, may remind fans of the Carling Cup final of 2011 before they met Birmingham, who won 2-1 at Wembley after an absurd error by Szczesny and Koscielny.

It could be stated that Arsenal have had the toughest route of all. They had to face Tottenham (2-0), Liverpool (2-1) and Everton (4-1), all of them being comfortable wins though. For this game, a bunch of Wenger’s men are out through injury: Walcott, Diaby, Miyaichi, Özil, Koscielny and Wilshere. They are also without Flamini, the Frenchman picking up a two match penalty for 10 yellow cards. Gibbs and Gnabry are not confirmed either till the last minute.

Last clashes

Season

Score

2012 - 2013

Arsenal 4 - 1 Wigan

2012 - 2013

Wigan 0 - 1 Arsenal

2011 - 2012

Arsenal 1 - 2 Wigan

2011 - 2012

Wigan 0 - 4 Arsenal

2010 - 2011

Arsenal 3 - 0 Wigan

2010 - 2011

Wigan 2- 2 Arsenal

Possible line-ups

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