Wigan Athletic versus Tottenham Hotspur – English Premier League: Match Preview
English Premier League kicks off once more after the international break as Wigan take on Tottenham at the DW Stadium on Saturday, 2nd of April. Both teams have had very different seasons thus far which makes this contest even more significant.
Let’s take a look at how both the teams match-up for their thirty first game of the season:
Wigan Athletic
Currently ranked 20th out of the twenty teams that play in the English Premier League, Wigan are prime contenders for relegation at the moment. Roberto Martinez’s men have been playing some good football this season but they have lacked the resilience
and the robustness that is needed to fight a relegation battle. Nonetheless, as Wigan prepare to take on Tottenham at DW stadium, they will be looking to gain all three points against the Spurs.
The Latics have won one, lost three and drawn one out of their last five competitive fixtures. Their only win came against Birmingham City in the last round of Premier League matches as Roberto Martinez’s men won by two goals to one. Wigan desperately need
a win to pull themselves out of the relegation mire, a win that just might propel them to greater things as the Premier League season vanishes behind the final curtain call.
Tottenham Hotspur
Wigan maybe fighting relegation, Tottenham are working hard to regain the third place spot that they forfeited to http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 courtesy of their three all draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers in the beginning of March. With a UEFA Champions League quarter-final
looming large next week against the mighty Real Madrid, Tottenham will go into their matchup against Wigan with one eye on Jose Mourinho’s team.
Regardless of the three draws and two wins from their last five fixtures, Tottenham have been inconsistent in the English Premier League ever since the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League resumed in early February. Moreover, Tottenham will be wary
of a Wigan side that won against them way back in August of 2010 when the Premier League season was still in its early stages.
Team News
Wigan have no real injury troubles to report of and their star midfielder http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Gary-Caldwell-c14440 is
also available for selection for Roberto Martinez’s outfit.
Expected Wigan Athletic line up: Al-Habsi, http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Figueroa-c13730, Caldwell, Alcaraz, Boyce, Watson, Diame, Cleverley, N’Zogbia, Rodallega, Moses
Tottenham are fretting Gareth Bale’s hamstring injury. The Welsh winger pulled out of his national team’s EURO 2012 qualifier against http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/England-c749 on the previous weekend. Thomas Huddlestone is still out of action for the London club alongside his compatriots
http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Jonathan-Woodgate-c19069.
Expected Tottenham Hotspur line up: Gomes, Hutton, Gallas, Dawson, Assou-Ekotto, Modric, Sandro, Lennon, Pienaar, Van der Vaart, Crouch
Key Players
Thomas Cleverley will be Wigan’s main player. Despite the presence of Charles N’Zogbia, Cleverley has really come to life at Wigan as he bailed them out of trouble in the last round of Premier League matches after scoring a match changing goal against Birmingham
City. In total, the 21-year-old midfielder has scored four goals and provided two assists during the 2010-2011 Premier League season.
Alternatively, Rafael Van Der Vaart will take the field as Tottenham’s playmaker and orchestrator on Saturday evening. Ever since his arrival in London from Madrid in the summer of 2010, the Dutch midfielder has scored eleven goals and assisted seven strikes.
This tally has come in just twenty Premier League appearances for the former Hamburg player.
Prediction
Tottenham do enter this match as favourites but Wigan’s desperate circumstances mean that they won’t be easy prey at their home stadium.
Prediction: 1-2 to Tottenham Hotspur.
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