Barclays Premier League

FINAL SCORE: EVERTON 2 WIGAN 1

Everton held on to secure a valuable victory against a resolute Wigan side which keeps David Moyes' men well in the hunt in fourth place. A good, honest display from both sides in difficult conditions saw the home side dominate most of the match, though the visitors made the most of their possession, Shaun Maloney in particular threatening to deny the hosts the spoils. Victor Anichebe and Steven Pienaar came close for Everton in the opening half-hour, each having shots deflected away, before a shower of Thomas Hitzlsperger corners on half-time saw Wigan triumph in a succession of goalmouth melees. Leon Osman broke the deadlock on 52 minutes when his 20-yard shot took a wicked deflection off Gary Caldwell and wrong-footed Ali Al Habsi. No more than he and his side deserved, having dominated exchanges after the break, Hitzlsperger most unlucky to see a trademark thunderbolt canon off the upright. Maloney had a good shout for a penalty turned down moments later, when Osman appeared to catch him, and the Scot continued to rally his side, only to see Phil Jagielka put things further from reach. He met a whipped Phil Neville cross at the back post and thumped a well-directed header past Al-Habsi with twelve minutes to play. Everton looked on course to secure their first clean-sheet in fourteen home games, but poor defending two minutes later allowed Arouna Kone to poke home a consolation for the Latics. Cue a frantic finale but no joy for gallant Wigan. They can't continue to hold their own with the top sides and not take their chances, whilst Davis Moyes will be more than satisfied going into a crucial clash with Chelsea on Saturday.

ALL OVER

The ball falls to James McCarthy on the right-hand corner of the area but he can't make the most of it and lofts over the bar. That's the final chance and the game ends a little fractiously with Gary Caldwell going into the referee's notebook.

LAST GASP

Leon Osman can't find a way through and Wigan come again as we enter four minutes of injury time with the visitors in possession. A cross comes in and Franco Dio Santo is adjudged to have handled it so the home side come away.

PETERING OUT

What can Wigan do to rescue this? They've arguably been worth a point in light of their battling midfield display but will they once again be the nearly men. Roberto Martinez will know as well as anyone that there's no points for style and it looks like they will yet again be pipped at the post at the hands of a more clinical side.

DIRTY LINEN

So Everton STILL can't manage a clean-sheet at home, though Oviedo immediately skews a chance to seal it wide as he ran through. The hosts re-establish some dominance and win a corner which Oviedo forces Wigan to clear from a dangerous area.

ERM...

As I was saying surely that's it! Cue Kone forcing Jagielka and Distin into some hapless defending and the striker pretty much bullied them into the opportunity to stab it home from five yards. He grabs the ball and retreats to the centre circle...

GOOOOOOOOAL!

2-1!!! Arouna Kone! There's life in this yet!

SURELY THAT'S IT

A fine header from Jagielka as he rose high over his man and met a whipped Phil Neville cross on the edge of the six-yard box to plant it firmly past Ali Al-Habsi. A clinical Everton move that has surely seen off Wigan with only ten minutes remaining.

GOOOOOOOOOAL!

Phil Jagielka! 2-0 Everton!

SLOWING DOWN

Beausejour looks for Di Santo with a deep cross that he can't reach. From Everton's point of view, Wigan are holding a higher line now and giving them more space. The pace of the game has slowed considerably.

TACTICAL SWITCHES

So David Moyes tries to sure up his defenses and add a little pace up-front, whilst Roberto Martinez replaces a midfielder with a striker. That's a reflection of the flow of the game, and the visitors will know they will have the opportunity to level this up, and Di Santo could be the man to take that chance.

SWAPPING SIDES

It's Brian Oviedo and Jonny Heitinga for Anichebe and Distin for Everton, and then Franco Di Santo enters the fray for Wigan and David Jones exits.

WIGAN PRESSURE

McCarthy seeks out Kone in the middle and Phil Jagielka has to divert the ball dangerously back into the arms of Tim Howard. Then Beausejour flashes it across the face of goal. The Goodison faithfully have gone quiet as they know full-well their team are on the back-foot at the moment.

STOP-START

Nikica Jelavic injures himself in the process of sliding in to win the ball which had run away from Maynor Figueroa. He gets up and Wigan come again with Beausejour and then Maloney surging upfield. A stop-start passage of play has allowed Wigan to regroup and Phil Neville has to dive in crucially to rob Kone at the near post.

CLEAN SHEET

Shaun Maloney is almost single-handedly carrying the fight to the home side on the Wigan left. Twice since that appeal he has run at the Everton defence and worried them. The visitors seem to have regained their composure and will take heart from the fact that the Toffees have not kept a clean sheet here for thirteen games. We have an exciting final half hour in prospect.

WIGAN SHOUT

Wigan's one bright spark, Shaun Maloney, is incensed as Lee Mason waves his penalty appeals away. The Scotsman received it on the left of the penalty area and went to ground as he tried to beat Osman. It was touch-and-go, no doubt about that. It could have gone either way.

IN CONTROL

Suddenly things are starting to fall for David Moyes side. Jelavic is released and almost finds space for a shot as Wigan scramble desparately clear. Then Osman looks for Jelavic again with a cross from the right that the striker can't connect with. Jelavic has looked a little unsure of himself today when in good positions.

1-0 EVERTON

Finally we have a goal and Osman did just as he had moments ago. He cut inside and squared up to the goal, fired off a shot and Gary Caldwell was the unlucky man to deflect it cruelly past Al-Habsi. No chance for the keeper but richly deserved for one of the home side's best performers on the day.

GOOOOOOAL!

Osman finally!

TOFFEE TIME

That Hitzlsperger shot really was a peach. It curled away from the keeper and only just flew off-target. Leon Osman jiked his way through a crowded penalty area moments later but stabbed it weakly at Al-Habsi. The conditions are dominating to a large extent. Ambitious play that would have come to something on another day is slipping from the players grasp at the last moment on the slippy surface.

GOING IT MALONEY

Shaun Maloney beats a couple of men but pushes it just too far for himself and Tim Howard gathers at his feet. Then Thomas Hitzlsperger belts a 40-yard rocket onto Ali Al-Habsi's right upright. What a strike from the German!!!

UNDERWAY AGAIN

Here we go again at Goodison. David Moyes has brought on Gary Naismith for Darron Gibson, no doubt hoping that his attacking instincts can help break down Wigan's stubborn rearguard. The Toffees wear their home blue and white whilst the Latics don their change all-black.

STALEMATE

So no goals in a slippery and entertaining encounter on Merseyside. Everton have had the lion's share of possession and the better of the chances, though neither side would argue that they have quite done enough to warrant the lead. An errant Steven Pienaar shot and some valiant but profligate work from Victor Anichebe have yet to engineer any clear-cut openings for an elegant but misfiring toffees eleven, for whom Thomas Hitzlsperger started. Indeed the German showed his renowned dead-ball skills late in the half with five pinpoint corner balls. The Latics summed up their first-half performances by holding firm and breaking well. You'd expect the hosts to find a way through in the second half but there's no guarantees. Join us shortly...

HALF TIME

That's it, we're goalless at the break.

DEAD BALL

A free-kick 35 yards out is wasted by Gibson as the wall does it's job and Wigan finish the half the stronger after a frenetic period of home pressure.

SURELY NOW

Five Everton corners in succession allow Thomas Hitzlsperger the chance to cause all manner of pandemonium in the Wigan area. Each one is delivered fantastically to the back post and somehow the visitors survive with some heroic headed clearances. Maloney arguably cleared the final one with his arm but the referee gives nothing.

LATIC ELECTRICITY

Stam comes again and fires in a dangerous low cross which Everton scramble clear, and the Dutchman clashes with Leighton Baines before the home side engineer a good opening. An Anichebe one-two gives Jelavic a sight of goal, he's crowded out, but it falls to the Nigerian again whose shot is deflected narrowly wide.

TACTICAL BATTLE

A little joy for Wigan as Ronnie Stam and then Jean Beausejour threaten down the flanks. Roberto Martinez will be happy to have contained the best that Everton have thrown at them up to now and will perhaps have a better game plan after the break.

HOME BALL

Everton continue to press and maintain possession. Hitzlsperger tries his luck from distance only for the ball to be charged down. Wigan are allowing them plenty of room up to the forty-yard line where a tight press is making it difficult to work angles in advanced positions.

PIENAAR-MED AND DANGEROUS

A typical all-action display from Steven Pienaar so far. He's everywhere at the moment, intent on finding a gap through a resolute Wigan defence. Taking a pass from Leon Osman he slices a deflected shot out for a corner which is cleared.

WILY WIGAN

Jones to McCarthy to Maloney down the middle for the Latics but they can't quite find the killer pass through to Kone and Everton clear. Their squad is living on the edge injury-wise at the moment but you wouldn't know it. Anyone who comes into the side seems to be able to do a job. In this case, Billy Jones is equipping himself manfully out there.

VICTOR-IOUS

Once again Victor Anichebe lunges in and Lee Mason makes it quite clear to the Nigerian that that is his last chance. The pitch is slippery out there and it's difficult to control the ball. The crowd are enjoying a rambunctious boxing Day encounter, neither side giving an inch. It's been good to watch two honest teams playing the right type of football.

WIGAN WORK IT WELL

Arouna Knone is at the centre of a fine Latics break which wins them a free-kick 25 yards out. Shaun Maloney strikes a great effort that Tim Howard has to parry away from his right-hand post.

MIDFIELD TUSSLE

Again Pienaar and Osman combine well to hoist the ball in, but it's cleared and Wigan break. A closely contested midfield battle has seen Everton dominate despite some uncharacteristically poor touches that have denied them further dominance.

EVERTON THREATEN

Victor Anichebe dives in wrecklessly whilst attempting to win a through-ball and referee Lee Mason decides he only needs a talking to. Then Steven Pienaar delivers a dangerous cross which Nikica Jelavic can't reach but Anichebe is there to guide Osman's return cross just wide.

WELCOME ALONG

We're underway here at Goodison Park. Thomas Hitzlsperger starts for the Toffees and he has already threatened from a corner ball which Sylain Distin couldn't quite connect with. At the other end Leon Osman did well to block a James McCarthy shot. A largely even encounter has seen Everton begin to exert some dominance in the last few minutes.

WIGAN

With one point from four matches, Wigan Athletic have seen a brief rally after a poor start ebb away. Despite a series of battling performances and an attractive style of football, they are yet again in danger of another scrap to avoid relegation unless they can find some form pretty quickly. By the time February is out they will have faced five of the six teams around them and their fate will surely be much clearer. Ever pragmatic though, manager Roberto Martinez will surely reason that any day is a good day to gett back to winning ways, and his side are by no means incapable of ending a winless seven years at Goodison. They'll have to do so without James McCarty though, who joins Antolin Alcarez and Ben Watson amongst a host of injuries to key players. Ivan Ramis may make a return, not having played since their last win on November 24th.

EVERTON

Tough to beat, the Toffees have lost only once in fifteen Premier League games, but that run has included nine draws. They maintain an unbeaten home record, and came back to beat West Ham on Saturday in satisfactory fashion, though manager David Moyes may feel that dropping points at lower-ranked sides such as Reading, QPR and Wigan has cost his side a more commanding league position. Indeed, the visit of Roberto Martinez's side will be just the kind of closely-contested encounter that has troubled them so far this term, with Chelsea and Newcastle to follow in the space of seven days. Thankfully, injuries are thin on the ground, with only Seamus Coleman a slight doubt and Kevin Mirallas once again consigned to the treatment table for, in Moyes' words, “a little while”. Marouane Fellaini will return from suspension for the Newcastle game, though the club's successful appeal against Darren Gibson's dismissal at the weekend means he is available.

PREVIEW: EVERTON V WIGAN

The Boxing Day fixtures represent the return legs of those played on the weekend of the 6th and 7th of October, with only West Ham's visit to Arsenal curtailed by transport disputes. Those matches returned 34 goals, including four at the DW Stadium, where Leyton Baines' 87th minute penalty against his old club rescued a point for the Toffees after Franco Di Santo had put the home side ahead following two goals in as many minutes early on from Arouna Kone and Nikica Jelavic. Wigan were as tough to beat that day as they have been all season long, but continue to suffer from an inability to turn some fine performances into points and thus remain in the bottom three. Everton, on the other hand, are arguably having their best season under David Moyes and will hope to kick on in the new year and claim the fourth and final Champions League position they currently share with three other clubs. The Latics have won only once in seven league visits to Goodison Park.