Preview: Arsenal v Wigan Athletic | Pre-Match Report | News

Our FA Cup journey continued on Sunday as we host Wigan Athletic in the fourth round at 4.30pm (UK time).

A Gabriel Martinelli hat-trick helped us knock out Portsmouth in the third round last month. 

We last faced the Latics in the semi-finals of the 2014 edition, knocking them out on penalties before going on to defeat Hull City 3-2 in the final.

Magic of the cup

While Wigan’s form in League One has seen the Latics drop into the relegation zone, they have found joy in an FA Cup run.

The 2013 winners shocked Championship play-off hopefuls Preston North End at Deepdale in the last round to set up our fourth round tie.

Wigan’s last win in the league came before that 1-0 triumph over Preston, and have since lost four and drawn once which has seen them slip to 23rd. It’s a run which has seen Wigan sack their boss Ryan Lowe after 11 months in charge. Glenn Whelan and Graham Barrow will take charge of the first team on an interim basis.

What the managers say

Arteta: “It’s an opportunity for the team, again, with another competition, and the history that we have related to that competition, it’s amazing. We’ll play at home again. I’m really excited to recover and go again.” – every word from his pre-match press conference

Graham Barrow: “Fear is a positive thing for the players. It’s like nerves. You read about top sportsmen, who say you need nerves otherwise you don’t care about it. It has always been part of it.

“You have to learn to deal with it. You can’t be that nervous that you’re frightened…you need to use it as a motivator.”

Team News

Mikel Merino remains sidelined following a foot injury. Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard came off the bench against Brentford having missed our match against Sunderland.

William Saliba missed out against Brentford with illness and Kai Havertz picked up a knock in last weekend’s win over the Black Cats.

As for the visitors, they have reported no injuries following a 2-1 defeat last time out at home to Reading.

talking tactics

Adrian Clarke, writing in the official matchday programme: “Former manager Ryan Lowe, who was dismissed from his post a week ago, used different formations in each of his last three matches in charge. After deploying a 3-1-4-2 for several months, he had recently experimented with 4-3-3 and 4-4-2, so it is hard to predict what shape the visitors will adopt today.

“Wigan are happy to be a little lopsided in the way they line up, with much of their play focused on utilising a dynamic right-hand side. Scottish wide man Fraser Murray is an influential figure down that flank, producing an impressive 113 crosses in open play, the second most of any player at League 1 level this season.

“Wigan have been a low-possession team for the bulk of this campaign, averaging just 44.6% of the ball in League 1. In a terrific 1-0 success against Preston North End in round three, that figure dropped sharply to 30.5%, so we are likely to see plenty of the ball in this cup tie.

“The Latics do have technical players who can pass very nicely though, like former Arsenal academy star Matt Smith, who picked up an FA Cup winners’ medal after being a substitute for Mikel Arteta’s side in the 2020 final success against Chelsea. However, in general they are content to sit behind the ball, before looking to catch teams on the break.”

Read more of Adrian’s analysis by purchasing a programme here or outside Emirates Stadium!

Facts and Stats

This is the first meeting between Wigan and us since the 2013/14 FA Cup semi-final, which is the only previous FA Cup encounter. After a 1-1 draw, we won 4-2 on penalties with current boss Mikel Arteta netting in the shootout.

Wigan have lost 10 of their 11 away games against us in all competitions – the other was a 2-1 win in April 2012 in the Premier League under Roberto Martinez.

We are looking to reach the FA Cup fifth round for the first time since 2019/20, when we went on to win the competition. This is only our third tie at this stage since then, losing 1-0 to Southampton in 2020/21 and 1-0 to Man City in 2022/23 previously.

Wigan have won their last six away matches in the FA Cup, conceding just one goal in this run. They’ve already had one run of seven away wins in the competition from January 2013 to March 2014 – should they win here, it would be just the fifth ever run of seven away wins in a row by a team in FA Cup history (first round onwards) and two would have been achieved by the Latics.

All four of our goals in the FA Cup third round 4-1 win over Portsmouth came via set pieces (three corners, one free-kick) – despite only playing this one game in 2025-26, no side has more set piece goals in the FA Cup this season than us (first round onwards).

Match officials

Tim Robinson will take charge of this FA Cup fourth round contest. Robinson’s last visit to Emirates Stadium came in December 2023, refereeing our 2-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion.

He will be joined by Ian Hussin and Marc Perry as his assistants. There will be no VAR for the match in N5. Andrew Madley is the fourth official.

Referee: Tim Robinson
Assistant Referees: Ian Hussin & Marc Perry
Fourth Official: Andrew Madley

wembley memories

It’s been 12 years since we locked horns with Wigan and it came in the FA Cup.  In 2014, the holders, Wigan, had stunned Manchester City in the quarter-final to set up a Wembley semi-final with us. 

It looked as though Wigan would cause another upset when Jordi Gomez opened the scoring but Per Mertesacker’s late header sent the game to extra-time. 

Penalties would follow as Lukasz Fabianski saved Wigan’s first two spot-kicks, from Gary Caldwell and Jack Collison, to help us win 4-2 and move onto the final, where we clinched our first FA Cup title in nine years.

Live coverage

There’s only one way to build up to our FA Cup fourth round clash, and that’s with our preview show, Live from N5!

Special guests, games and in-depth analysis await from our regular show at Emirates Stadium, before you can settle in to listen to commentary of the game against the Latics.

Find out how you can watch the FA Cup clash on TV, wherever you are in the world

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