It had already been a Christmas to forget so far for both Aston Villa and Wigan Athletic.
Having been battered 8-0 by Chelsea at Stamford Bridge last Saturday, the Villans endured another heavy defeat on Boxing Day when they went down 4-0 to Tottenham Hotspur at Villa Park.
Roberto Martinez and Wigan Athletic were left hard done by last weekend after their 1-0 loss to Arsenal at the DW Stadium, where the Latics chief felt that his side were unfortunate with several refereeing decisions.
Wigan then ended up on the losing end of a 2-1 fixture at Everton on Wednesday, but had only lost once in their last seven visits to Villa Park going into today's match.
However, goals from Ivan Ramis, Emmerson Boyce and Arouna Kone extended Villa's dreadful run, and moved the Latics out of the bottom three.
Sports Mole takes a look at where the game was won and lost at Villa Park.
Match statistics:
Aston Villa:
Shots 11
On target 4
Possession 48%
Corners 4
Fouls 16
Wigan Athletic:
Shots 9
On target 6
Possession 52%
Corners 3
Fouls 8
Was the result fair?
The score was probably a little harsh on Villa but Wigan were worthy winners. After making an awful start, Villa enjoyed the better of the first half and made a good start to the second period, but were ultimately undone as Wigan took their chances, something which the home side did not do.
Aston Villa's performance
It was not hard to tell that Villa are a young side who really lack confidence at the moment. Having endured back-to-back maulings at the hands of Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur, Villa made a terrible start to this game after going behind inside three minutes, and were lucky not to have conceded two penalties. However, they controlled much of the first half, and started well after the break, but once Wigan doubled their lead then there was only going to be one winner.
Wigan Athletic's performance
The Latics couldn't have made a better start to the match when Ivan Ramis headed them in front inside just three minutes. They could have had two penalties as well before Villa took over the match. However, a quickfire double in the second half essentially killed the game, and Wigan enjoyed a rather relaxing afternoon at Villa Park.
Sports Mole's man of the match
Emmerson Boyce: There was not really one player who stood out for the Latics as nobody had a bad game for the visitors. However, Emmerson Boyce performed well in his role, attacking as well as defending, and doubled his side's lead with a fine goal.
Referee performance
Had Wigan not won the match, we could be talking now about how Kevin Friend cost the Latics the match by not awarding the visitors two clear penalties in the opening stages of the match. Less of a fuss will be made about those decisions now after Wigan went on to win anyway. Friend was not afraid to dish out a booking, with all of his yellow cards pretty justified. Overall, the game was a nice one for a referee to manage.
What next?
Aston Villa: The Villans will be desperate to end their recent bad form when they travel to Swansea City on New Year's Day.
Wigan Athletic: The Latics are back on home turf on New Year's Day when they host league-leaders Manchester United at the DW Stadium.
Matt Cotton
