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Championship Side Wigan Ends City’s Treble Hopes

FA Cup holders Wigan will return to Wembley for a semi-final meeting with Arsenal after stunning Manchester City in a repeat of last year’s final.

City, who won the Capital One last weekend paraded that trophy before kick-off but saw their hopes of a domestic treble unravel against their Championship opponents.

Jordi Gomez put the Latics ahead from the penalty spot after a mistake by Martin Demichelis and James Perch made it 2-0 after half-time thanks to another City error.

Initially, Wigan held out, but the home pressure was building. Dzeko headed a Clichy cross against a post then Aguero forced Carson into his first real save of the game with a scuffed shot after 65 minutes.

But the visitors’ backline was finally breached moments later. Emmerson Boyce headed clear but only as far as Nasri, who fizzed a first-time shot through a crowd and into low into the net.

Suddenly the City fans, who have seen a few famous fightbacks here in recent seasons, believed their side could do it again. Wigan had other ideas.

Carson denied Aguero twice and Boyce cleared from underneath his own crossbar with Dzeko waiting to tap home.

City kept pouring forward but Richards flashed a shot wide and Dzeko saw another header drift agonisingly wide.

Five minutes of added time gave City more hope but it was Wigan who came closest to another goal when Pantilimon denied Fortune, and a famous victory was theirs.

Meanwhile, Wigan Atletic will take on Arsenal in the FA Cup semi-finals, while Shefield United play Hull City.

Arsenal are bidding to the win the FA Cup for the 11th time in their history, with their last victory coming in 2005 – their most recent trophy success.

Gunners manager Arsene Wenger insisted his side’s desire to perform well in the competition this year is unquestionable after they defeated Everton 4-1 in the quarter-finals on Saturday.

“People have questioned our desire to do well in the FA Cup many times, but we are in the semi-final now and from our performance on Saturday, you can see we really want it,” Wenger said.

“We took this competition seriously. Since the start of this competition it is true that we had a good draw in the fact that we played all the games at home, which is the first time [that this has happened] since I played in the FA Cup.

“But, on the other hand, we played difficult opponents – Tottenham, Liverpool, Everton and that shows you that we have taken this competition seriously.”