Instead, Gibbs was given a yellow card before watching Ben Watson hit a post with his free kick.
Gibbs then blocked Mido's header on the line after the Egyptian was lcattered on the edge of the area by Fabianski.
Mido left the pitch and with it, the Latics performance also seemed to leave. Arsenal started to play with a confidence that was lacking in the first half and managed to net four goals before the end of the game.
For as sensational as Ben Watson was in the middle of the park, the defending for the Arsenal goals was as oppositely poor.
The game was sealed when Jason Koumas laid on Andrey Arshavin on the edge of the Latics box to fire home an embarrasing goal for the Welshman.
Despite a promising start, Alan Wiley's bottle played a large part as yet again the Latics came off worst against one of the so called big four.
Here is the reaction of the two managers.
Steve Bruce
The referee said that Antonio (Valencia) was not in full control of the situation and therefore did not show the red card. In other words, he wasn't getting the ball first.
He's one of the fastest out there and he had a two-yard head-start on the 'keeper, so there was only going to be one winner, and for that I can't agree with his decision.
I emphasise that we still could have gone on to get beat, but it was a big turning point in the game and we were certainly in the ascendancy at that point, and it would have been even more difficult for them to comeback with ten-men.
The really disappointing thing for me was the second and third goal that we conceded.
We're all a little bit shell-shocked. The reason why we are where we are in the league is our organisation and ability not to give much away.
The second and third goals hurt badly, because we've worked so hard to prevent things like that happening. It would be disrespectful to schoolboys to say we made schoolboy errors, but when we analyse it they were ridiculous mistakes.
Arsene Wenger
Yes, I was. I felt that Wigan had a very strong and especially committed first half where they were well organised and the 50:50s were all for them. They played very strongly and I think that slowly our technique took over and we looked dangerous every time we had the ball. The fatigue crept in a little bit for Wigan and it became logical for us to come back and make the difference.
I was like everybody else from Arsenal; scared it could be a red card. I hoped it would be a yellow. At that moment I thought that Silvestre was behind Gibbs and I hoped it would be a yellow. I still think our goalkeeper would have got the ball - it was not a goal chance, he had pushed the ball too far.
Like the rest of our defence in the first half we were a bit on the back foot. We became stronger and stronger and in the second half he was much better.
The Table
| Latest match Sunday, 12th April 2009 | Pld | Home | Away | Overall | Pts | GD | |||||||||||||||||
| W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | |||||||||
| 1 | Manchester United | 31 | 13 | 1 | 1 | 34 | 11 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 20 | 10 | 22 | 5 | 4 | 54 | 21 | 71 | +33 | ||||
| 2 | Liverpool | 32 | 10 | 6 | 0 | 31 | 8 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 28 | 13 | 20 | 10 | 2 | 59 | 21 | 70 | +38 | ||||
| 3 | Chelsea | 32 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 28 | 11 | 11 | 2 | 3 | 27 | 9 | 20 | 7 | 5 | 55 | 20 | 67 | +35 | ||||
| 4 | Arsenal | 32 | 9 | 5 | 2 | 24 | 11 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 30 | 17 | 17 | 10 | 5 | 54 | 28 | 61 | +26 | ||||
| 5 | Aston Villa | 32 | 5 | 8 | 3 | 24 | 20 | 10 | 0 | 6 | 24 | 22 | 15 | 8 | 9 | 48 | 42 | 53 | +6 | ||||
| 6 | Everton | 32 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 27 | 17 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 20 | 17 | 14 | 10 | 8 | 47 | 34 | 52 | +13 | ||||
| 7 | West Ham United | 32 | 8 | 2 | 6 | 21 | 17 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 16 | 19 | 12 | 8 | 12 | 37 | 36 | 44 | +1 | ||||
| 8 | Tottenham Hotspur | 32 | 7 | 5 | 4 | 17 | 9 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 21 | 27 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 38 | 36 | 41 | +2 | ||||
| 9 | Wigan Athletic | 32 | 7 | 4 | 5 | 15 | 16 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 20 | 11 | 8 | 13 | 31 | 36 | 41 | -5 | ||||
| 10 | Fulham | 31 | 9 | 3 | 4 | 24 | 13 | 1 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 14 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 30 | 27 | 40 | +3 | ||||
| 11 | Manchester City | 31 | 10 | 0 | 5 | 31 | 12 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 15 | 27 | 11 | 5 | 15 | 46 | 39 | 38 | +7 | ||||
| 12 | Bolton Wanderers | 32 | 7 | 2 | 7 | 19 | 19 | 4 | 2 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 11 | 4 | 17 | 39 | 49 | 37 | -10 | ||||
| 13 | Stoke City | 32 | 8 | 5 | 3 | 19 | 14 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 13 | 34 | 9 | 9 | 14 | 32 | 48 | 36 | -16 | ||||
| 14 | Portsmouth | 31 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 22 | 25 | 2 | 7 | 6 | 12 | 23 | 8 | 10 | 13 | 34 | 48 | 34 | -14 | ||||
| 15 | Hull City | 32 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 16 | 30 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 20 | 25 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 36 | 55 | 34 | -19 | ||||
| 16 | Blackburn Rovers | 32 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 18 | 23 | 4 | 4 | 8 | 17 | 31 | 8 | 10 | 14 | 35 | 54 | 34 | -19 | ||||
| 17 | Sunderland | 32 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 18 | 20 | 3 | 5 | 8 | 12 | 23 | 8 | 8 | 16 | 30 | 43 | 32 | -13 | ||||
| 18 | Newcastle United | 32 | 4 | 6 | 6 | 21 | 27 | 2 | 6 | 8 | 16 | 25 | 6 | 12 | 14 | 37 | 52 | 30 | -15 | ||||
| 19 | Middlesbrough | 32 | 5 | 7 | 4 | 16 | 17 | 2 | 2 | 12 | 9 | 30 | 7 | 9 | 16 | 25 | 47 | 30 | -22 | ||||
| 20 | West Bromwich Albion | 32 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 30 | 1 | 4 | 11 | 8 | 29 | 6 | 7 | 19 | 28 | 59 | 25 | -31 | ||||
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