English Premier League – Match Preview: Wigan Athletic versus Manchester City
Manchester City visit Wigan Athletic to play their fifth league match of the season. So far it has been a terrible season for both the teams but for different reasons. City spent a fortune in the summer transfer window to bring
stars such as David Silva, Balotelli, James Milner and Yaya Toure but so far the blue moon has not come out for the men in blue.
In their first league match of the English Premier League, Manchester City got off on the wrong foot as they drew at home to Tottenham. In all honestly, City were totally outplayed in their match despite putting out a Hollywood
cast of footballers. Since then City have been strong at their home stadium i.e. the Eastland’s Stadium also known as the City of Manchester Stadium but they have been quite dire as far as their away form is concerned.
Just before the deadline day, James Milner signed up for Manchester City and it was boost to their hopes for challenging the likes of Chelsea and Manchester United for the English Premier League title. Currently, City lie eighth
in the English Premier League table and look nothing close to what they had dreamed to be before the season kicked off.
One thing has been made clear, that even if teams do spent massive amounts of cash in the transfer window, even if clubs do succeed in buying all the marquee players through their wealth, team chemistry, team spirit and squad unity
cannot be bought through finances. City are learning this lesson the hard way and as they visit the DW Stadium on Saturday, Wigan will be in a perfect situation to exploit this situation.
In their last English Premier League match, City drew against Blackburn Rovers at home and therefore Mancini’s men will be striving to bounce back in a strong statement of intent against Wigan. Mid-week Europa League commitments
for Manchester City meant that they might rest some of their superstars against Wigan but this does not mean a step down in authority as Mancini has the likes of Adebayor, Adam Johnson, David Silva and Patrick Viera as options in his squad.
There is almost a wealth of riches in City’s squad and therefore Mancini has come under criticism in recent times for his failure to manage these stars properly. Roberto Mancini’s start weak start to the season has been testing
the patience of City’s Arab owners but in the past these owners have shown that they are short on tolerance when it comes to bad results and their club. Therefore a win against Wigan will do Mancini quite nicely as far as his long term prospects as the Manchester
City manager go.
However such things are easier said than done. Wigan might not be the best of teams in the English Premier League but after getting their first win of the season against Tottenham in previous years, Martinez’s side has been on
a good run of confidence. That coupled with the fact that they have an impressive record against Manchester City at the DW Stadium makes them favourites to at least get a point of the men in blue.
Out of their last five meetings with Manchester City at the DW Stadium, Wigan have won three, drawn two and scored a remarkable tally of twelve goals. Wigan drew their last English Premier League match against Sunderland. For the
match against City, Wigan will be without Caldwell while Victor Moses is set to have a late fitness test to determine his eligibility for the match.
City will have to deal with the absence of Mario Balotelli, Aleksandar Kolarov and Michael Johnson, all of whom are out with injury. City’s riches might give them the edge on paper but in reality football is quite different. Expectations
are that Wigan will be able to get a draw in this encounter.
Tags: