West Ham 2-0 Wigan

West Ham's clinical victory over Wigan appeared to end any lingering worries they had about relegation but caused further anxiety for the Latics.

The irrepressible Shaun Maloney had an effort stopped by Jussi Jaaskelainen before Matt Jarvis was fortunate to find the bottom corner from his cross.

Wigan had a host of chances after the break with James McArthur closest.

Kevin Nolan's late volley then came against the run of play, keeping Wigan in the Premier League's bottom three.

Andy Carroll fired wide with a late effort after latching onto a long ball from the back, for what would have been a truly unrepresentative scoreline.

But Wigan will feel frustrated by their inability to make their second-half dominance count, wasting a chance to close in on relegation rivals Aston Villa who play Manchester United on Monday.

Villa sit three points above Wigan, but with Stoke and Sunderland both winning, it was a poor day for Latics boss Roberto Martinez who last weekend watched his side secure a place in the FA Cup final.

Thoughts about that occasion must now be put to one side as the Spaniard aims to secure his team's Premier League safety, starting with the visit of Tottenham next Saturday.

His position is far different from West Ham boss Sam Allardyce, whose team are now five league games unbeaten and sit 11 points above the relegation zone with four games left.

In what turned out to be a reflection of the game, Wigan enjoyed a dominant spell of possession in the first 20 minutes.

Maloney began brightly and had the the visitors' best chance to open the scoring when he was slipped through the middle by Callum McManaman, but Jaaskelainen was quick to come off his line and save the Scot's effort.

West Ham appeared content to remain compact rather than chase the ball and before the goal they were limited in their attacking forays.

In contrast to Wigan's short-sharp passing, Carroll was eager to profit from any set-pieces and he went into the book early on for what looked like a petty reaction to Gary Caldwell's attentions.

That was soon forgotten, though, when the Hammers took the lead as Jarvis advanced down the left, cut back, and his cross carried all the way into the bottom corner as Mohamed Diame attempted to poke it in against his former club.

The goal gave the hosts an instant boost and Carroll increased his influence while Nolan had a penalty appeal waved away by referee Neil Swarbrick.

Wigan recovered after the break when Martinez's decision to replace McManaman with McArthur allowed Jordi Gomez to play further forward and the Spanish midfielder tested Jaaskelainen.

Efforts from Emmerson Boyce, McArthur and Jean Beausejour were all then saved by West Ham's Finnish goalkeeper, with another to deny McArthur following Maloney's cut-back the best of the bunch.

Maloney was a menace in the second half and Allardyce's team struggled to get out of their own half, much to the home supporters' frustration.

But they were soon singing their famous 'I'm forever blowing bubbles' song when from a long-free-kick, Carroll chested the ball down, hooked it over his head and Nolan stole in to volley his 100th career goal.

West Ham boss Sam Allardyce: "While it wasn't the best performance, the bottom line is, if you score your goals and take your chances, you win football matches.

"Their possession was better than ours but the chances they had they either missed or Jussi Jaaskelainen saved them. We knew Wigan would push forward which left them defensively weakened and we exposed them."