More woe on the road for the Latics.
Wigan Athletic’s hopes of beating the drop took a hit on Saturday afternoon as they lost 2-1 at mid-table West Ham United in the Premier League.
Wigan saw plenty of the ball at Upton Park but struggled to seriously test home ‘keeper Jussi Jaaskelainen and fell behind to a soft goal in the 21st minute when a Jarvis cross found its way into the net.
Nolan then wrapped up the points 10 minutes from time, volleying in after an Andy Carroll assist to take his career tally to 100 goals.
West Ham are now unbeaten in five games and have suffered just one defeat in seven, with this result allowing Sam Allardyce’s side to climb back into the top half of the table.
Wigan remain in 18th place and are three points adrift of Aston Villa, who travel to Manchester United on Monday, with Newcastle United, Sunderland and Stoke City all moving six points clear of Roberto Martinez’s side on Saturday.
The Latics won through to the FA Cup final for the first time in their history last weekend, but Martinez knows that avoiding relegation is the priority for his side.
Beating a West Ham side who were unchanged from their midweek draw against Manchester United was always going to be tough, and Wigan did not help themselves with a wasteful display going forward.
On a gloriously sunny afternoon in the East End of London, Shaun Maloney was denied by Jaaskelainen before Nolan forced a good save from Joel Robles at the other end.
And the Hammers then got the breakthrough midway through the first half with a rather soft goal. Jarvis whipped in a cross from the left, and as Mo Diame and Nolan tried unsuccessfully to get a touch, the ball drifted past Robles and into the net.
The home side were good value for their lead at the interval, but Wigan upped their game after the restart and pushed their opponents back.
The closest they came to an equaliser was when a Shaun Maloney cutback was fired first-time towards goal by James McArthur in the 72nd minute, but West Ham’s Finnish goalkeeper made an excellent reaction stop.
And the Hammers went on to make sure of the three points with 10 minutes remaining thanks to a superb piece of combination play between Carroll and Nolan.
The on-loan Liverpool striker showed great strength to hold off Gary Caldwell with his back to goal and then played an overhead kick into the path of Nolan, who beat Robles with an expert first-time finish on the volley.
Carroll, who was a handful for the Wigan defence all afternoon, then came closing to adding a third late on.
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