Are you watching Tottenham? The Arsenal support could afford to gloat in the closing stages of this firecracker of a fixture which ended with Wigan Athletic being burnt, and they surely knew the answer. Everybody was watching, it was utterly compelling theatre and now Arsenal and, indeed, Tottenham Hotspur, know the drill for the final round of Premier League fixtures on Sunday.

Arsenal are back in the box seat for the final Champions League place, the only thing left to fight for in England’s top division after this result finally ended Wigan’s eight-year association with the Premier League, and Arsène Wenger will demand one last push. Win at Newcastle, and Tottenham’s result at home to Sunderland will be rendered academic. Arsenal can almost touch a 16th consecutive qualification

This scoreline suggested a rout but it was nothing of the sort, with Wigan recovering from a slow start to equalise and go close to taking the lead in the second-half, which would have raised Arsenal nerves to fever pitch. But inspired by Santi Cazorla, Wenger’s players drew the sting and took Wigan apart with a flurry of three goals in eight minutes.

At full-time, Wigan’s FA Cup winners stared into the distance and the tears flowed, while Arsenal prepared for a lap of appreciation. They will only be truly feted with the right result at Newcastle.

It was an occasion on which the weight of what was at stake had seemed onerous and there was little doubt that within the suffocatingly tight margins lay a simple truth: both teams had to win. Wigan have played with fire so regularly at this stage of the season that their fingers ought to be insulated, but as the tumbling rain added to the slickness and vibrancy of the spectacle, the visitors allowed their backs to be pressed further to the wall.

The 11th minute concession to Lukas Podolski was dismal from their point of view, and the goalkeeper, Joel Robles, let alone the manager Roberto Martínez, found himself asking how Arsenal’s best finisher could be permitted so much space on the edge of the six-yard box to head his 15th goal of the season. Cazorla’s delivery had seen Paul Scharner tussle with Per Mertesacker and Antolín Alcaraz track Laurent Koscielny’s run. But nobody watched Podolski. It was a gift that Arsenal were grateful to unwrap.

Arsenal had entered as the division’s form team and there was plenty to like about how they attacked the game. For the first part of the first-half, they bristled with menace while even the little touches, such as Theo Walcott tackling back against Roger Espinoza or Koscielny’s acrobatic rejection of a high Wigan ball, brought reassurance to the home crowd.

Cazorla had directed a stooping header wide from Walcott’s cross before opening goal and, thereafter, Kieran Gibbs stretched but could not meet Bacary Sagna’s cross-cum-shot; Mikel Arteta saw a drive blocked, and Aaron Ramsey touched wide of the near post.

Wigan, though, grew into the first-half, particularly Shaun Maloney, who began to run into spaces and get his head up in dangerous areas. Jordi Gómez had a shot blocked by Koscielny and when Arsenal experience a lull in the creation of chances, coupled with a narrow scoreline, some of the natives tend to get restless. There is then the transfer of nerves on to the players. The Arsenal team that finished the first-half was a pale shadow of the one which had started it.

Although Koscielny bundled a good chance wide from another Cazorla corner, Wigan sensed opportunity and they took it when the quicksilver Maloney won his second free-kick from Arteta on the edge of the area. The home crowd took out their anger on the referee, Mike Dean, and it intensified when Maloney, following that straight-on, stuttering run, bent the ball brilliantly beyond Wojciech Szczesny.

Arsenal rarely win when Dean takes charge and there were plenty in the stands muttering darkly about conspiracy. But the home team’s anxiety was not down to him, rather their struggles to knock down Wigan. Arouna Koné was denied at close range by Szczesny, as Martinez’s men looked smarter.

But back came Arsenal. Cazorla drew a wonderful double save out of Robles; Podolski headed tamely at the goalkeeper and Walcott was denied by him at the near post. It was exhausting just to watch, a heady fusion of nerves and excitement.

Arsenal needed something to show from this patch of deep purple and they got it with a devastating combination punch. First, the magnificent Cazorla crossed for Walcott to bundle home and then, following a high ball and a loss of Wigan defensive bearing, Cazorla prodded through for Podolski to chip home.

Wigan were finally beaten, their shoulders slumping in the same direction as their prospects, with Ramsey salting the wound with a finish from a tight angle. Sunday promises more drama.