Premier League: Wigan 2 Stoke 2

Wigan and Stoke served up a thrilling festive treat for the fans on a bitterly cold day at the DW Stadium.

The pre-match omens weren’t exactly great, with the Potters having managed only seven away goals all season and the Latics mustering just six at home.

But any fears of a snooze-fest went out of the window during an incredible first half which brought four goals and a few near misses.

Predictably, the second half couldn’t live up to the first, but both sides continued to give everything in pursuit of a winner.

Robert Huth opened the scoring with an 18th-minute free-kick that took a wicked deflection off Kenwyne Jones to wrong-foot Ali Al Habsi in the Wigan goal.

The home side was soon level in similar fashion when a Ben Watson free-kick was deflected past Asmir Begovic by Danny Collins.

Matthew Etherington restored Stoke’s advantage within a couple of minutes, slotting home after excellent work by Jones and Ricardo Fuller down the visitors’ right.

Wigan should have been level before they eventually found an equaliser when Hendry Thomas somehow managed to miss from inside the six-yard box with Begovic out of his goal.

Tom Cleverley did put the ball into the back of the net six minutes before the break when his curling shot was deflected past Begovic by one of his own men.

Mauro Boselli came close to putting Wigan ahead at the start of the second half, only to see Begovic pull off a double save from close range.

At the other end, Stoke could have won it when Jonathan Walters headed wide from six yards, and Al Habsi made a magnificent save to deny Jones.

But Stoke were indebted to their goalkeeper when he tipped a stinging drive from Charles N’Zogbia on to the post inside the last 10 minutes to leave the teams sharing the points.