English Premier League – Match Review: Fulham versus Wigan Athletic
Fulham and Wigan Athletic played out a highly exciting encounter at Craven Cottage as both the teams gave it their all to achieve the win. Fulham started the match with the following lineup; 1-Mark Schwarzer, 6-Chris Baird, 5-Brede
Hangeland, 18-Aaron Hughes, 3-Carlos Salcido, 29-Simon Davies, 13-Danny Murphy, 27- Jonathan Greening, 23-Clint Dempsey, 11-Zoltan Gera, 30-Mousa Dembele.
Alternatively Wigan Athletic kicked off the match with the following players; 26-Ali Al Habsi, 23-Ronnie Stam, 5-Gary Caldwell, 3-Antolin Alcaraz, 31-Maynor Figueroa, 6-Hendry Thomas, 21-Mohamed Diame, 15-Tom Cleverley, 10-Charles
N'Zogbia, 20-Hugo Rodallega, 7-Franco Di Santo.
Fulham started the match on the front foot as they had a couple of chances to take the lead within the first ten minutes of the match. Wigan were no slouches themselves as they also tried to build a move or two inside the Fulham
half of the field but it was the Cottagers who drew first blood as in the 29th minute of the match Clint Dempsey proved to be the pivotal man inside the Wigan penalty area. The American midfielder connected brilliantly with a cross from the left
hand side of Fulham’s attack by Carlos Salcido. The Mexican full back delivered an accurate cross which was finely converted into a goal by Dempsey who was U.S.A’s standout player at the FIFA 2010 World Cup.
Fulham were once again threatened to put the match beyond Wigan’s reach but they were wasteful with most of the free kicks that fell their way during the first half of the match. In the 40th minute of the match, Zoltan
Gera had a chance to increase Fulham’s lead as he played a delightful one-two with Dembele inside the Wigan penalty area. However, Gera’s shot in the end was just wide of Wigan’s goal as the Latics survived yet another scare.
Fulham didn’t waste much time in adding another goal to their tally as in the dying moments of the first half, Clint Dempsey got his second goal of the match as he tapped in Chris Baird’s crossed ball from the right hand side of
Fulham’s attack. It was a good move which was finished off in fine style by the young American. At the end of the first half, the match was perfectly in control of Fulham F.C as they led Wigan by two goals to nil.
Wigan made their first change of the night during the half time break as Franco De Stefano made way for Jordi Gomez from the Latics’ bench. De Stefano was substituted due to a hamstring injury as Fulham went from strength to strength
in the second half of the match. Fulham got a corner in the 48th minute of the second half which created havoc inside the Wigan defense and the penalty area. However when the ball fell to Aaron Hughes, the defender failed to get a shot off on target
and as a result the move died down in the end.
For most of the second half, the onus was on Wigan to inject some urgency into their play as they were the team who were lagging behind form the first half. However, it seemed that Roberto Martinez’s men were unbothered as they
displayed a lack of quality and ambition during the match. In the 53rd minute of the match, Fulham almost added another one to their advantage as Carlos Salcido’s cross almost freakishly found the back of the net. It was in reality a misplaced cross
which gave Al-Habsi another scare.
In the 57th minute, Wigan had a golden opportunity pull one goal back as the ball fell to Hugo Rodallega inside the Fulham half after Hangeland had failed to clear the ball effectively. However, the Colombian striker
lacked sufficient ball control to capitalize on the situation as the move fizzled out in the end. The Latics grew in confidence after Rodallega’s skewed chance as in the 60th minute of the match Mohammed Diame had a brilliant chance to score for
Roberto Martinez’s team. After going past two Fulham defenders, Diame failed to apply the finishing touch as his shot was wide of the mark for Wigan Athletic.
For the rest of the match, Fulham kept control of the ball as Wigan clearly lacked enough skill to fight their way back into the match. At the final whistle, the match ended at the score line of two goals to nil in favor of Fulham
F.C.
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