Latics v Manchester City - Premier League Preview

The Latics welcome the Champions Manchester City to the DW Stadium in Wednesday night’s televised game, as they go in search of back to back home wins for the first time this season.

Roberto Martinez must deal with an injury crisis as he prepares to do battle against Roberto Mancini’s unbeaten team. Shaun Maloney and captain Gary Caldwell face late fitness tests ahead of the game, with stand in skipper Ivan Ramis also struggling with a hamstring injury which forced him during their last gasp win against Reading.

Jordi Gomez

Better news for Martinez is that he is likely to be able to call upon James McArthur and Franco Di Santo, who both featured off the bench on Saturday. Midfielders Albert Crusat and Ben Watson miss out, while winger Ryo Miyaichi and defender Antolin Alcaraz remain on the sidelines.

The Latics will be keen to avenge last season’s 1-0 defeat at home to City and will also look to bring an end to a run of five consecutive defeats against the blue half of Manchester.

Martinez will be looking for his side to build on the comeback win at the weekend and will once again look towards hat-trick hero Jordi Gomez to inspire and create. The gifted Spaniard has been the victim of continual abuse from certain sections of the DW crowd, but his display against the Royals will have gone a long way to silence the critics.

Vincent Kompany

As for the visitors despite still being unbeaten Mancini will not be happy with his side, knocked out of the Champions League at the group stage for the second consecutive season, many believe nothing but a second title will ensure he holds onto his job.

French international Gael Clichy remains on the injury list having missed the last two matches with an ankle problem. Captain Vincent Kompany felt no ill effects after his 90-minute performance against Chelsea on Sunday.

Midfielder Jack Rodwell is making progress but not ready to feature, while right-back Micah Richards remains out.

Joleon Lescott is fit again after injury, but the England international is not expecting to replace Matija Nastasic in the starting XI.

Despite the difficulty of the task ahead of the Latics they will be confident of once again upsetting the odds, and will only need to look back to when they beat the then current Champions Manchester United at the DW Stadium.

Home form needs to be more consistent if they are to avoid another battle to avoid the drop, and a third win of the season in front of their own fans would be very welcome.

Norwich City 1-1 Wigan - Latics show signs that they are up for the fight

Roberto Martinez’s men showed signs of significant improvement in a spirited performance, but will leave Norfolk kicking themselves having dominated and created the better openings in what was an entertaining encounter.

After last week’s horror show at the DW against Swansea you got the feeling that the Latics were going to bring their stay in the top flight to an end come May. 

Roberto Martinez & Victor Moses

The big issue for Wigan is that they are yet again involved in a scrap for Premier League survival in what is now their sixth season in the top flight.

Taking the next step forward is key for Wigan if they are genuinely to be considered as an established Premier League team, you get a feeling if they were to drop back into the Championship they would struggle to come back.

The job that Dave Whelan has done has been nothing short of remarkable to take this small town living in the shadow of the likes of Manchester United into the promise land and maintain their presence.

The big question is can they take the next step up. Investment is a huge issue for them, with the likes of QPR coming up and spending big and with Swansea and Norwich proving to be a more attractive choice for players, getting genuine talent through the door in is an issue.

As for the yesterday’s game they will be left wondering what might have been as they were by far the better team.

A sloppy clearance from the usually reliable Ali Al-Habsi put the defence on the backfoot only ten minutes in, as Wes Hoolahan evaded Gary Caldwell and co to smartly score on his 150^th appearance for the Canaries.

Despite the setback Martinez’s men stuck to their game plan and grew into the game more and were unlucky to not to level before half time.

The Spaniard as he does in every game kicked every ball and unlike last week his decision on substitutes paid off when brought on former Celtic man Shaun Maloney. He proved to be instrumental in the Latics taking a share of the spoils at Carrow Road. He was lively throughout and was on hand to put through Victor Moses, who coolly rounded John Ruddy to level things up.

Maloney was on hand again late on as he played the perfect ball to substitute Mohammed Diame who blasted over with the goal and three points at his mercy.

Shaun Maloney

Wales international Steve Morison nearly broke Wigan hearts as he was denied by Al-Habsi who produced a stunning one handed stop and managed to clear the incoming danger.

As mentioned earlier an improvement at home is going to key for the Latics as their next three games on the road involve Arsenal, Liverpool and Chelsea. Despite their manager’s belief that he has the team and characters in it to stay up, they will look at this game as two points dropped. 

Are City Great Pretenders or the real deal?

As Roberto Mancini’s men fail to capitalise on United’s slip as their title aspirations are assessed at the midway point of the season.

After the dramatic scenes at Old Trafford on Saturday, which saw Steve Kean’s youngsters, leave with all three points, surely it was advantage City as they lined up against a depleted Sunderland on New Year’s day.

Over the last few weeks City’s lead at the top has been cut down, to only goal difference and United were quickly making headway on the front with consecutive 5-0 victory’s.  Against the odds things did not go to plan on Saturday, but at 5pm on Sunday Fergie’s New Year’s day took a turn for the better.

A trip to the Stadium of Light was always going to be a tough game for Mancini and considering they have a tricky game against Liverpool on Tuesday he started with Silva and Aguero on the bench.

Adam Johnson and Edin Dzeko were given a chance to stake a claim for a place in the first XI in what is going to be a crucial 2012 for everyone involved with the blue half of Manchester.

For all of their dominance, they were unable to breakdown a robust and determined Sunderland backline which was brilliantly marshalled by Lee Cattermole and John O’Shea. The ferocity of the challenges was proof in itself, that the home side wanted it more, the vast majority of the men in sky blue were left wanting.

Edin Dzeko 

Dzeko was poor and he has not backed up his early season form at all, compare his form with Dimitar Berbatov who has been banging them in over the festive period despite not having a look in all season. Both players are in the same boat at present but I know who I’d rather call upon. 


Another black mark on what was a torrid start to 2012 for City was Yaya Toure’s passing, at times it was woeful and ineffective as he lacked the fight and easily outfought by David Vaughan and Cattermole. Also let's not forget the amount of times that the industries Stephane Sessegnon was able to make inroads into the City back-line, this will be a major a concern for Mancini and his backroom staff. 

The sucker punch was always waiting to happen, but as Sunderland saw off yet another City move in the final minute of added on time you’d be forgiven for thinking they had wasted their best chances with Nicklas Bendtner and Sessegnon going close in each half. But excellent work from Sessegnon saw the South Korean import Ji Dong-won with virtually the last kick of the game, set Martin O’Neil off on one of his trademark celebrations.

 Stephane Sessegnon 

Worryingly for City they failed to win away from home once again. In fact their last win on the road in the league game at the start of November at QPR, a game where they also conceded twice and arguably were lucky to come away with all three points.

By no means is this a crisis, come May, City will have made great strides in twelve months but experience is key and Fergie’s know how is going to prove pivotal in the run in, he has been there and done that.

There is no doubt about City’s time will come and the current United side are in no great shape, it is going to make for a fascinating run in. If Tottenham and Arsenal maintain their runs they will certainly have some part to play as well. I just can not help thinking this season has come too soon for City, but it will not be too long as they will learn to press home the advantage when presented to them in years to come.