Swans seal success over lowly Latics
Wigan are clinging to their Barclays Premier League status by the thinnest of threads after two calamitous defensive errors condemned them to a 3-2 defeat against Swansea.
Twice ahead through Roger Espinoza and James McCarthy, the Latics were floored by second-half goals from Angel Rangel, Itay Shechter and Dwight Tiendalli.
Defeat leaves Wigan three points adrift of safety with two matches left. Their next assignment is Saturday's FA Cup final against Manchester City before they face a daunting trip to Arsenal next Tuesday, by which point their fate could be all but sealed depending on the results of their relegation rivals this weekend.
Goalkeeper Joel Robles almost cost his side in a most bizarre manner when he dropped on a back pass from Gary Caldwell, which presented the visitors with an indirect free-kick barely seven yards out. But Ashley Williams lifted his effort way over the bar.
The first half was meandering to a disappointing conclusion when Ben Watson lofted a high ball into the box. Michel Vorm leapt with Arouna Kone but only got a weak punch on the ball and Espinoza capitalised with a first-time volley that whistled into the tiniest of gaps at the near post.
Swansea returned from the break with more intent and when Wayne Routledge's precise chip dropped over Espinoza's shoulder, Rangel belted a superb shot in off the far post.
Wigan were level within two minutes as McCarthy strode onto Caldwell's through ball and drove it home. McArthur would surely have wrapped up the points had he turned home Kone's cross but unmarked and just six yards out, he fluffed his lines.
Caldwell then turned from hero to villain with an abysmal pass out of defence, straight to Pablo Hernandez, who fed Shechter for the equaliser.
Vorm acrobatically turned over Caldwell's thunderous header before Wigan pressed the self-destruct. Emmerson Boyce failed to clear, then McArthur and Shaun Maloney stood and waited for each other to scramble the ball out of their own six yard box and Tiendalli prodded home the winner.
Swansea lost Vorm following a sickening clash of heads with Ben Davies, but Wigan's luck had by now deserted them.
