Arsenal 4 

Wigan 0 

ARSENAL SCORED FOUR times in 17 first-half minutes to cruise through to the fifth round of the FA Cup with an emphatic 4-0 drubbing of League One Wigan, who were overseen by former Irish international Glenn Whelan, currently in interim charge. 

Noni Madueke sent Mikel Arteta’s rampant side on their way after 11 minutes before Gabriel Martinelli doubled the hosts’ advantage seven minutes later.

Jack Hunt headed through his own net after 23 minutes and Arsenal were four to the good inside half-an-hour when Gabriel Jesus struck.

Arsenal failed to add to their tally, but their one-sided victory at the Emirates saw them advance beyond the fourth round for the first time since they won the FA Cup in 2020 and kept alive their outside chance of completing an unprecedented quadruple.

Arteta made eight changes to the side which drew at Brentford on Thursday, but he was still able to boast a front five of Bukayo Saka, Eberechi Eze, Madueke, Jesus and Martinelli.

Eze was hooked at half-time against Brentford after an underwhelming 45 minutes. And, with just one assist and no goals since his hat-trick against Tottenham in November, his form had been under the microscope.

However, here he was the architect of Arsenal’s opening two goals.

Eze played an eye-of-the-needle, no-look pass to Madueke, who ghosted in off the right flank and made no mistake with a cool first-time finish.

Eze was soon at the wheel again when he found Martinelli, who slotted past Sam Tickle.

Only five minutes had ticked on before Arsenal added to their lead.

Madueke raced past a flat-footed Morgan Fox and played in Saka. The England winger’s pull-back flicked off Jesus’ toes and a bamboozled Hunt headed past his own goalkeeper.

Wigan’s 6-1 defeat to Peterborough last weekend cost boss Ryan Lowe his job and the visiting supporters were chanting: “How s*** must you be, it’s only 3-0.”

The hymn sheet had to be revised in the 27th minute after Jesus latched on to Christian Norgaard’s long ball over the top and dinked his side’s fourth over the on-rushing Tickle.

Wigan are 22nd in League One, with six losses in their last seven, and stand-in boss  Whelan might have been fearing the worst.

But his side navigated their way to the interval with the deficit still at four.

Indeed, they might have pulled one back, but Joe Taylor’s shot was expertly kept out by Kepa Arrizabalaga.

With Wolves and Tottenham to follow across the next seven days, Saka, still working his way back to full fitness following a hip problem, was replaced by Viktor Gyokeres at half-time.

And the Sweden international nearly made it five, only to see his first-time deflected effort rebound off a post, with Eze then smashing into the side-netting on the hour mark.

Tickle then got a strong left hand to Martinelli’s close-range header.

To Wigan’s credit, they avoided a Six Nations scoreline, which had looked a real possibility when Jesus scored, as the game fizzled out after an explosive opening half-an-hour.

However, it is Arteta’s men in the hat for Monday’s fifth-round draw in a campaign where they will roll into March with the Premier League, Champions League, Carabao Cup and FA Cup all still up for grabs.