Arsenal falter, but don't fail, without Fabregas, Flamini and Hleb.

Football matches are usually won and lost in midfield. The ball is, more often than not, won or lost in this area, and how play is distributed is, in any half-decent team, decided here. Teams that have confused, imbalanced midfields, or even try and bypass it with long-balls - step forward England! - are usually found out or frustrated pretty quickly.

So yesterday was always going to be a test given the list of suspensions and injuries. Losing one of Hleb, Flamini, Fabregas and Gilberto, despite the latter’s absence for most of this season, was always going to be a challenge; losing all four of them effectively ripped the heart out of the team.

Hleb, and more particularly, Fabregas need to be playing as often as possible: they are the creative hub of the side. Almost all our play is filtered through these two players. And Flamini’s running, tackling and speed of distribution has also proven vital to the midfield’s successful functioning this season.

So I was interested to see how we’d fare without them, especially when I saw the quartet of Rosicky-Diarra-Denilson-Eboue line up.

Overall, a mixed performance. Neither Diarra nor Denilson have the passing range or creativity of Fabregas or Hleb, and whilst we proved adept at winning and keeping possession, at times we looked slightly bereft of ideas. Solid performances from both of them, but nothing more. Rosicky had a half-decent game, capped by a fine goal, but seemed unable to vary his play from continually cutting in from the left-hand side. Eboue showed signs of a desire to run at players, yet suffered from a poor first-touch and a periodic lack of application.

They were not helped by Adebayor putting in another distinctly mediocre performance up front. His almost obsessive desire to attempt flicks, drag-backs and any other skill that complicated play meant our fluency was broken at critical moments. His shooting also left a lot to be desired.

Yet we prevailed. And we did so due to the sheer skill and desire of Billy Gallas and Sagna, a player who has emerged as, so far, one of the signings of the season. His cross, and Gallas’ header were both top-class, and came at a time when Wigan had perhaps begun to fancy nicking the game.

The second quickly followed, as did a deserved three points.

Two other players worthy of note were Theo and Bendtner. Theo looked like one of the few players capable of causing havoc among the Wigan defence. Bendtner already looks like he has more to him than Ade. What Ade has to bust a gut to achieve, Bendtner seems to achieve far more naturally. He has the look of a world-class centre forward to him already, and if he doesn’t achieve this status it’ll be due to mental reasons, not technical ability.

So, a good win, and one that puts some breathing space between us and United (thanks for the goal Nico!) We can win without our first-choice midfield; the evidence we have a title-winning squad continues to mount. Hopefully.