Adebayor eases Arsenal´s nerves

Arsenal survived a jittery finale to claim a valuable 1-0 victory over Wigan at the Emirates Stadium on Saturday.

The Gunners appeared set for a comfortable afternoon after Emmanuel Adebayor fired them into an early lead, but Arsene Wenger’s side missed a string of chances and their nerves were horribly frayed in the frantic closing stages.

Ultimately they survived but the fact that Arsenal ended a bedraggled mess, desperately hacking the ball as far from their own area as possible, shows how their confidence has been sapped this season.

Home games against the likes of Wigan should be routine for sides with serious title pretensions, but Arsenal apparently prefer to climb mountains rather than mole-hills, having already been vanquished by Fulham, Stoke and Hull this term.

This could have been another occasion when precious points were squandered, but in the end Adebayor’s strike was enough.

It arrived in the 16th minute, when Wigan failed to properly clear Robin van Persie’s right-sided corner and Cesc Fabregas chipped the ball back to the edge of the area.

The ball span off Alex Song and into the path of Adebayor, who swept into the bottom corner.

It was a nonchalant finish, although the Togolese’s celebrations – lapping up the adulation of the home faithful at length – betrayed his relief at netting for the first time since the end of October.

Those fans might have expected that goal to prompt a deluge but Wigan regrouped well. Arsenal struggled to find any fluency as the visitors, inspired by the busy Lee Cattermole, worked hard to close down the space they need to thrive.

Instead, the hosts threatened only sporadically. Van Persie saw one near-post drive bravely blocked by Chris Kirkland at the near post but Wigan’s only other moment of first-half concern arrived in stoppage time, when Adebayor’s low shot was touched onto the post by Kirkland.

That at least ensured the second half stayed competitive and there was an early scare for Arsenal when Emile Heskey, left all alone in the area, directed a downward header too close to Manuel Almunia.

That near-miss appeared to jolt Arsenal out of their lethargy, although their finishing remained askew. Van Persie was the chief culprit, the 25-year-old producing the kind of erratic performance which makes him one of the top flight’s most bewildering strikers.

Two second-half moments summed up his display: the first, in the 52nd minute, saw him drag horribly wide after Fabregas had picked him out with an inch-perfect pass, but 10 minutes later he brilliantly worked a yard of space against Mario Melchiot and fizzed inches wide.

At least Van Persie was not alone in his profligacy.

Mario Melchiot might have levelled seconds later when his close-range shot was pawed away by Manuel Almunia, while Wigan withstood a barrage that saw Denilson rattle the right-hand post from 20 yards and Adebayor miss two good chances, fluffing a header from eight yards and then seeing a near-post drive well saved by Kirkland.

Every missed chance drew howls of frustration from a capacity crowd and when substitute Emmanuel Eboue inexplicably dispossessed his own player, Kolo Toure, and gifted away possession, the atmosphere threatened to sour completely.

Eboue was duly substituted – to wildly sarcastic cheers – but while Wigan pressed desperately for a leveller in the dying seconds, Arsenal held on – just.