Steve Gohouri salvaged a point for Wigan and relegated Hull City to the Championship.

WIGAN ATHLETIC 2
- Moses 30,
- Gohouri 90

HULL CITY 2
- Atkinson 42,
- Cullen 64

**Wigan Athletic is in 15th place in England’s Premier League with one game remaining. Its position is neither laudable nor shameful. But during the final stretch of the season, the club’s results will prove crucial both in the title race and the relegation fight.

On Monday, Wigan condemned Hull City to relegation after Steve Gohouri scored on an acrobatic overhead kick to earn a 2-2 tie in the teams’ penultimate game of the season.

“It is one of those performances which leaves you with mixed feelings because we knew that we had to take control of the game and break Hull down,” Wigan Manager Roberto Martinez said after the game. “But then what we don’t lack is that character and desire to carry on doing the right things until the end. I thought the second goal was the reward the players deserved.”

On Sunday, Wigan will travel to London to play first-place Chelsea in a game that could decide the championship. Chelsea, with a 1-point lead over Manchester United, must win to secure its first title since 2006. A loss or a tie combined with a Manchester United victory over Stoke City would secure United, the defending champion, its fourth straight championship. (If both teams have the same results, Chelsea will win the title.)

Frank Lampard, the Chelsea midfielder, said he was confident the Blues would see the season to a triumphant conclusion.

“We have got a head of steam up,” Lampard said. “There is still another game to go but we are in a good position. If you are going to win titles you are going to have these moments. Whether it is a crunch moment like on Sunday, when we played Liverpool with United playing Sunderland after us, or whether it be a game at home which you should win comfortably.”

“You have to do the job right,” he added.

Manchester United Manager Sir Alex Ferguson is hoping Wigan can do a job on Chelsea. His team won at Sunderland on Sunday, thanks to another opportune goal from the Portuguese wing Nani, and now must win at home against Stoke City and get some help.

“They’re a good team, they’ll have a go and you never know, it’s a crazy game,” he said of Wigan, adding: “Manchester City did us a great turn when they beat Chelsea twice. Wigan are neighbors too.”

Squads:

Wigan Athletic: Stojković; Melchiot, Gohouri, Caldwell, Figueroa; Gómez (Scotland 79), Diame (Scharner 82), Watson, McCarthy (Sinclair 65), Moses; Rodallega

Hull City: Duke, Mendy, Gardner, Mouyokolo, Dawson; Atkinson, Cairney, Boateng, Kilbane; Vennegoor (Folan 70), the Cullen

Impressive Charles N'Zogbia goal to claim a vital three points for Wigan to avoid relegation

WIGAN ATHLETIC 3
- Watson 80,
- Bramble 89,
- N'Zogbia 90

ARSENAL 2
- Walcott 41,
- Silvestre 48

**We’ve been waiting for the potential of Wigan Athletic to show itself this season. It has in fits and starts, a win over Chelsea, an away win over Aston Villa. But for the most part, Roberto Martinez’s first year in the English Premier League has been disappointing, as his team has underachieved all year long.

In fact, there was still some relegation doubts coming into the game, as they were only four points out of the drop zone going into Sunday’s game at DW Stadium with Arsenal.

For 80 minutes, it looked like just another disappointing day for the Latics, but in a 10-minute span, all that potential turned into reality, as Wigan stunned the Gunners with a three-goal rally that was completed by Charles N’Zogbia’s blast in stoppage time, giving Wigan an historic 3-2 win, their first over Arsenal.

Wigan is now virtually safe, while Arsenal’s flickering title hopes are exterminated.

Trailing 2-0 in the 80th minute, there looked no chance of a Wigan comeback. But N’Zogbia played substitute Victor Moses in and although Moses’ first touch was poor, he was smart enough to play the ball back to Ben Watson, who colly finished from 12 yards out to cut the lead to 2-1.

It was one-way traffic after that as Wigan poured on the pressure. Watson nearly equalized in the 87th minute as his header off a corner was cleared off the line.

A minute later, though, the game was tied on a catastrophic goalkeeping error by Lukasz Fabianski, who had a decent game to that point. But he just flat out dropped a corner kick, and Titus Bramble was the man on the spot to head it just back over the goal line.

Arsene Wenger quickly tried to put Robin van Persie on, but Arsenal was shell-shocked, and a minute into stoppage time, N’Zogbia completed what could be the comeback of the season in the Premier League, when he drilled a left footed shot from 20 yards out off the near post and behind a rooted Fabianski, sending a rare very good crowd at the DW into celebration mode.

Wigan actually started the brighter team led by Wigan’s version of Walcott, N’Zogbia, who missed a shot in just the 11th minute. The Latics were also dangerous on a couple of set pieces.

But, about the midway portion of the first half, Arsenal started to take control and Walcott was the catalyst, running at the Wigan defense, far from the Premiership’s best. In the 33rd minute, Walcott found his way in, but chose not to shoot, played it square and the ball was cleared.

The constant threat of Walcott was finally realized in the 41st when Nicklas Bendtner played Walcott in and he ran by the entire Wigan defense and finished expertly past goalkeeper Chris Kirkland for a 1-0 Arsenal lead.

Wigan’s best player was probably midfielder Watson, and it looked like he might have earned a penalty just 45 seconds after halftime as he was pulled back by Samir Nasri. Referee Lee Mason waved it off, and replays showed contact was fairly minimal.

Arsenal appeared to put the game away three minutes later on some woeful defending off of a corner. Mikael Silvestre was left alone to head the corner in at the far post, while Wigan had two people marking the near post and no one on the far post to make it 2-0.

The rest of the game was all Wigan. At last, in Game 35 of 38, their potential was seen in a 10-minute span that will live in Wigan history for years to come.

Squads :

Wigan Athletic: Kirkland; Bramble, Gohouri, Fiugeroa, Melchiot, Diame, McCarthy, Watson (Schraner 93 '), Rodallega, N'Zogbia, Moreno (Moses 61')

Arsenal: Fabianski, Silvestre, Campbell, Clichy, Sagna, Eastmond (Van Persie 90 '), Diaby, Nasri, Rosicky (Merida 80'), Bendter, Walcott (Eboue 80 ')