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| Wigan Athletic |
Nickname: Latics
Ground: DW Stadium
Capacity: 25138
Manager: Roberto Martinez
quad:
I will just start this post by saying that I feel that Roberto Martinez and Wigan have not gotten enough respect, for the being able to produce good results season after season with little or no resources. Season after season they get predicted to relegate, but they come back strong and show the experts that they are still a still a team to be reckoned with in the premiership. Wigan has lost some players during the summer, but I believe only the loss of Tom Cleverly is a big one. So if they can hold on to Hugo Rodallega and Mohamed Diamé they could do well this season as well. But both are strongly linked away from Wigan and it’s still a long time left of the transfer marked. Robert Martinez is a young and talented manager who has done miracles with Wigan so far, and I expect nothing less from him this season. Wigan started the season with a 4-0 loss at DW stadium to top-flight debutants Blackpool, and Martinez know that this year opening match against Norwich will be just as tough. Roberto Martinez is confident Wigan will not be caught cold again by the Premier League's newcomers, with Norwich their first opponents. And Wigan's first three fixtures this term are against newly-promoted sides; with Norwich first up at home this weekend. This could of course look easy, but Martinez knows better at the start of a new season. "It is so much harder to play these sides when they have that extra bit of energy and emotion," Martinez told the Evening Post". But on the plus side we know exactly what to expect, and we'll be ready for the emotion of the day.”It's also important to get our home form up and running as soon as possible. We saw a real difference in performance levels at home during the first and second half of last season. "To be able to start the season at the DW is a great opportunity for us to reach new heights early on, with help from the fans, and we need to make all of that count on Saturday".
A blow for Wigan and Martinez is that star midfielder McCarthy suffered an ankle injury, though, and will be assessed over the next 24 hours. Latics boss Roberto Martinez: "He's an important player for us and has Premier League experience”. Hopefully he will be back in time for the premiership start this weekend.
Pre-Season Fixtures/Results
July 15 vs Ostersunds FK 2-1 – Moses, Boselli
July 27 vs Al Ahli 2-0 – Moses (2)
July 31 vs Preston North End 3-1 McCarthy, Moses, Boyce
August 7 vs Villarreal 1-0 Moses
Players in
Players out
Most Recent Lineup vs Preston: Al Habsi (Kirkland 45), Boyce (Stam 72), Lopez, Figueroa, Caldwell, Watson (Thomas 62), McCarthy, Gomez (Dicko 84), Moses, Diame (Jones 62), Di Santo (Sammon 45)
Most likely starting lineup for Wigan next weekend:
Victor Moses have been looking strong in the pre-season matches and if Hugo Rodallega can deliver that gods that he have done the last season I think Wigan will pick up enough points to stay clear of relegation this year as well. The danger is that if Wigan doesn’t produce result against Norwich, Swansea and QPR in the first 3 matches they are going to get into trouble straight away. Since the next 3 matches are against top side teams like Man City, Everton and Tottenham. Martinez knows that the team needs to get a good start, and I think they will do just that.
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