The game was pretty much Tomas Rosicky vs Wigan and Rosicky had lost. He was the only player who was making things happen but he couldn’t play on his own. He might have had Mikel Arteta to play with but Arteta got badly injured in the first minutes of the game. Gary Neville pointed out that Wigan caught us on the break when Arteta could not walk, Yossi Benayoun was signaling to the bench, assuming that we had maintained possession but instead Sagna’s header was cut out by a Wigan player and they swiftly broke on us bypassing

My pre match words came back to bite me firmly on the Arsenal. I said that Martinez would have to move Victor Moses out to the right to face Santos because he would be halted by Bacary Sagna. The youngster gave Sagna the run around like we have never seen from any other opponent since he arrived at Arsenal.

Complacency is a word thrown around too easily after a defeat and for my money that was not the issue. Even the two bad defensive mistakes shouldn’t have been a problem when we pulled it back to 1-2. Granted, we should always defend better than we did last night but the issue for me was the lack of sharpness and creativity in our passing from far too many players.

The game was pretty much Tomas Rosicky vs Wigan and Rosicky had lost. He was the only player who was making things happen but he couldn’t play on his own. He might have had Mikel Arteta to play with but Arteta got badly injured in the first minutes of the game. Gary Neville pointed out that Wigan caught us on the break when Arteta could not walk. Yossi Benayoun was signaling to the bench, assuming that we had maintained possession but instead Sagna’s header was cut out by a Wigan player, they swiftly broke on us bypassing both Arteta and Benayoun who saw the counter attack a fraction too late to intervene.

Di Santo flicked into an unguarded net after just beating Szczesny to the ball. 1-0 soon became 2-0 after Moses had outfoxed Sagna with a scooping drag back. A skill that Robin van Persie has executed so well in the past and his cross into the box was eventually turned into the net by Jordi Gomez who only started the game due to an injury to Shaun Maloney.

Defensively we had woken up and dusted off our early funk and we hammered on the Wigan door until Thomas Vermaelen rose to power home a right wing cross.

At 2-1 given the way we had forced our way back into the game I expected the team to push on and score at least two in the second half. The momentum was with us and the Wigan defence looked like it could concede and that is where it all ended.

Our creativity was stifled by Wigan’s system. Robin van Persie was tightly marked at every turn and the likes of Ramsey, Song and Walcott just did not have good games.

Yossi Benayoun was the only other midfielder or attacker who was using the ball well but I understood Arsene’s decision to bring on a more direct player in the second half. We were not penetrative enough with Yossi on the pitch. Gervinho could not make the difference and he only added to a collection of players who did not perform on the day.

The introduction of Chamberlain for Djourou was our last throw of the dice and while looking direct in midfield, the youngster gave away just as many passes as he did finding a team mate.

Wigan frustrated by killing time whenever they could and as the game went on they become more comfortable in possession. Our pressing had disrupted their passing for long spells and I think it is the first time that a high energy pressing Arsenal side had been so poor on the night.

Wigan held on and we simply could not provide van Persie with anything to feed on. A hugely frustrating evening for the Arsenal, especially after pulling it back to 1-2 at half time. A chance to open up a cushion has been wasted and the team will have to bounce straight back against a resurgent Chelsea side.

That is now a game in which we simply cannot lose. We will have to do it without Mikel Arteta as it looks as if his season is now over. Abou Diaby and Francis Coquelin will have returned just in time. Our game will have to improve dramatically from what we saw last night if we are to continue to fight off the challengers for the Champions League places.