Wigan v Arsenal and Portsmouth v Aston Villa
One is scrapping for their lives at the bottom, another is in a title race doomed to failure, a third is already down, and the other is off the pace in the chase for the Champions League, yet all four share the limelight on Sunday afternoon as Wigan face Arsenal and Portsmouth play host to Aston Villa.
They might have differing priorities, but they’ll share the same determination to win.
Wigan v Arsenal
Wednesday night was their big chance, but both Wigan and Arsenal fluffed their lines.
The former were booed off the DW Stadium pitch after labouring to a goalless draw with an already relegated – and severely depleted – Portsmouth, while the latter succumbed to local rivals Tottenham, suffering at the hands of Danny Rose and a highly motivated home side. Arsenal’s title dreams are probably dead as a result, but Wigan’s survival hopes are very much still alive.
The midweek result was obviously a disappointing one for Roberto Martinez and his men, as Wigan struggle to build upon last month’s home victory over Burnley, but they certainly possess more quality than the Clarets and Hull, ensuring that they should just about have enough to stay up.
Matches like this one aren’t likely to determine their fate, but they’ll be confident of prolonging the agony of the surely demoralised visitors.
Arsenal were deservedly beaten at White Hart Lane. Their late rally, inspired by Robin van Persie – who should have done enough to earn a start at the weekend – could well have won them a point, but they often lacked the ingenuity to get in behind the home side, and defensive slips ultimately proved costly. They shouldn’t do on Sunday.
In Hugo Rodallega and Charles N’Zogbia, the Latics possess a couple of gifted attack-minded performers, but Arsenal are awash with them.
They should have more than enough to see off Wigan, not that it’ll do much for their deceased title ambitions.
A victory then, but hardly one worth celebrating.
Prediction: Wigan 1 Arsenal 3
Portsmouth v Aston Villa
Down and out, down on their luck and down to their last fifteen available players at Wigan in midweek – and three of those were Leonard Sowah, Matt Ritchie and Marlon Pack, not even household names in their own households – Portsmouth still came away with a point.
With FA Cup final places to play for, there is still some competition in the south coast squad, but motivation must surely suffer. They’ll finish bottom whatever happens between now and the end of the season, and they could be in trouble when facing teams who are of a higher quality than Wigan, which is pretty much everyone else, especially Aston Villa.
The Villains have hit a brick wall of late. The FA Cup semi-final defeat was followed by Wednesday night’s home draw with Everton which was only achieved courtesy of a late Phil Jagielka own goal.
Martin O’Neill has used the least amount of players than any other boss throughout this Premier League season, and the tired limbs seem to be catching up with his players.
They can still reach the top four, especially with their next two matches coming against Pompey and Hull, but it would a huge surprise if they were to be playing Champions League football next season, and perhaps deep, deep down O’Neill knows that his squad aren’t ready for it.
They should win here though, and make short work of a Portsmouth side who must surely wish that the cup final was tomorrow.
Avram Grant will throw together a side that he believes can get a result, unfortunately for him the only result that looks possible is a Villa win.
Prediction: Portsmouth 0 Aston Villa 3
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