Arsenal v Wigan Athletic

Arsenal face Wigan Athletic in the Premier League at Emirates Stadium on Tuesday night.

With Stats Zone, you can brush up on the facts and figures behind every Gunners match this season, brought to you by Opta and the Official Matchday Programme. 

Callum McManaman and Ben Watson may have hogged the headlines following Wigan's FA Cup final victory against Manchester City on Saturday, but James McCarthy is the real driving force in their midfield. The Republic of Ireland international has developed into a complete midfielder this season and his battling performances in the centre of the park have given Wigan hope they can pull off yet another great escape.

The player most similar to McCarthy in the Arsenal squad is Aaron Ramsey: both are box-to-box midfielders, whose lung-busting qualities are allied to superb vision and creativity.  Indeed, when you examine their stats for the season you can see quite how closely matched they really are.

Ramsey has played two games fewer than McCarthy but boasts a slightly better passing accuracy rate, both overall and in his own half, and has created more goalscoring chances (42 to 36). Both players have two assists this term, but McCarthy has three goals to Ramsey's zero.

It promises to be a fascinating battle - but could Ramsey's relatively fresh legs give him the edge after a 10-day break between games? It could make all the difference on a vital night for both clubs.

ARSENAL v WIGAN ATHLETIC - MATCH FACTS

• Wigan need to win this game to realistically avoid relegation to the Championship
• No FA Cup-winning team has ever been relegated in the same season
• Last season Arsenal lost at home to Wigan in their 34th game, a result which helped the Latics avoid relegation
• That victory last season is Wigan's only Premier League away win against Arsenal
• Arsenal have scored more counter attack goals than any other Premier League team this season (7)
• The Gunners have drawn their last two home games, they have not drawn three in a row within the same season since March-April 2011
• Arsenal have taken 14 points from their last six games, a total only Chelsea can match
• Wigan have taken five points from their last six games, only three teams have fewer in this period. In the six games before that, Wigan took 10 points
• Arsenal's last four Premier League games have gone under 2.5 goals with three of them going under 1.5 goals
• Last season, the FA Cup winners (Chelsea at Liverpool) lost 4-1 in their first game after their Wembley victory

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