Martinez: Wigan will be ready for Arsenal after cup triumph

Ben Watson, the man who broke his leg last November, came on as a substitute to score the winning goal in the last minute of normal time to defeat Manchester City 1-0 and give Wigan chairman Dave Whelan, the man who broke his leg in the 1960 FA Cup final, a night to remember for the rest of his days.

But while Wigan's travelling fans celebrated euphorically there were no champagne corks popping for the players. Instead, they were ordered to take ice baths and turn up for training on Sunday morning in readiness for the next two league games which will determine their Barclays Premier League fate.

Wigan, three points adrift of safety in the relegation zone, play Arsenal on Tuesday at the Emirates stadium before a final showdown next Sunday against Aston Villa at the DW stadium.

Martinez said: "From a physical point of view I don't know how quickly we can recover from this. We are playing on Tuesday against Arsenal with a squad where we have six or seven players missing through injury.

"But we always face adversity and we don't moan about it. We'll get on with it. We will be brave and hopefully get the points we need to achieve our aim. It is a shame that the final couldn't be the final game of the season and we could have been enjoying and celebrating.

"Today wasn't an accident. That doesn't happen by mistake or because we were lucky. I believe we can get enough points to stay in the league which would be like winning the title. We will fight hard to get the Double."

Martinez praised the fighting spirit of his side and in particular the stories of Watson and Callum McManaman. Watson was expected to be out for the rest of the season after breaking his leg against Liverpool in November but battled to get back sooner.

"The whole journey of Wigan Athletic in this FA Cup has been about little stories like that," said Martinez. "Everybody told us in the medical department Ben was going to be out for the rest of the season. But he wanted to get back. He worked extra hours and pushed himself, then comes on at Wembley and scores the winner.

"I've seen movies with worse scripts than that. It was fantastic to see him scoring a goal. The proudest thing for Wigan Athletic was that we didn't perform in a damage-limitation way and then get a break. To produce that level of performance and in my eyes be the better side over the course of the game was very, very pleasing."