Wigan in big trouble after defeat

Blame game ... the inquisition begins in the Wigan defensive line. Source: JON SUPER / AAP

Dwight Tiendalli pushed Wigan Athletic closer to relegation from the Barclays Premier League as Swansea City triumphed 3-2 in a five-goal thriller at the DW Stadium.

The Latics, who tackle Manchester City in the FA Cup final this weekend, twice led against the Capital One Cup winners but were made to pay a heavy price from some woeful defending which leaves them three points from safety with just two games left to play.

Roger Espinoza and James McCarthy found the net for the hosts, but the visitors responded on each occasion to level through Angel Rangel and Itay Schechter, before Tiendalli opened his account for the Swans with the crucial winner 14 minutes from time.

Wigan could have found themselves a goal down with just three minutes gone when stand-in left-back Espinoza's attempted pass to Paul Scharner only succeeded in releasing Wayne Routledge, who forced goalkeeper Joel to push his near-post drive behind.

		P	W	D	L	GD	Pts
1	Man United	36	27	4	5	42	85
2	Man City	36	22	9	5	31	75
3	Chelsea	35	20	8	7	34	68
4	Arsenal	36	19	10	7	31	67
5	Tottenham	35	19	8	8	18	65
6	Everton	36	15	15	6	14	60
7	Liverpool	36	14	13	9	25	55
8	West Brom	36	14	6	16	0	48
9	Swansea	36	11	13	12	0	46
10	West Ham	36	11	10	15	-8	43
11	Stoke	36	9	14	13	-10	41
12	Fulham	36	10	10	16	-11	40
13	Aston Villa	36	10	10	16	-21	40
14	Southampton	36	9	12	15	-11	39
15	Sunderland	36	9	11	16	-12	38
16	Norwich	36	8	14	14	-22	38
17	Newcastle	36	10	8	18	-23	38
18	Wigan	36	9	8	19	-23	35
19	Reading	36	6	10	20	-26	28
20	QPR	36	4	13	19	-28	25

Swansea were presented with another opportunity when Joel inexplicably picked up Gary Caldwell's back-pass, but Ashley Williams blazed the resulting free-kick hopelessly high over the bar, much to the amusement of the home supporters.

The deadlock was broken just before the interval as Vorm could only fist away a hanging high cross and Espinoza volleyed home from inside the box, threading his shot beyond Garry Monk, Williams and the goalkeeper.

Wigan's lead lasted just five minutes into the second period as Swansea started strongly and deservedly drew level when Rangel volleyed home with aplomb via the base of the post after Routledge's neat ball into the box.

The home side responded immediately and in style, as Caldwell's neat through-ball released McCarthy, who burst beyond the Swansea defence to fire confidently beyond Vorm, with James McArthur then passing up a glorious chance to make it 3-1 when he failed to get a clean contact to Arouna Kone's cross.

But Caldwell was guilty of squandering possession in his own half, as Schecter was allowed two bites of the cherry and his eventual shot found the back of Joel's net after deflecting off Emmerson Boyce and clipping the inside of the post in the 59th minute.

Vorm produced an outstanding save to keep the scores level, plunging to his left to push away Caldwell's powerful close-range header after Maloney's corner, with Wigan then culpable in their own downfall 14 minutes from time.

Tiendalli was gifted the opportunity to put his side ahead as McArthur and Maloney both failed to deal with Pablo Hernandez's cross to the far post and the Dutch defender slotted beyond Joel from close range.

Swansea goalkeeper Vorm was stretchered off in a neck brace five minutes from time after a sickening collision with Ben Davies, as Wigan were unable to find a leveller despite nine minutes of added time.

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