Wigan v Fulham Preview

Wigan just came off a big loss to Man Utd while Fulham is on a high after a thrashing of West Brom No new injury concerns for either club.

Wigan managed to keep the match goal-less with Man Utd at halftime, even managing to grab a few half chances, though Franco Di Santo didn't manage to convert those. As soon as they conceded the first goal though, the defence turned into shambles and the 4-0 result belittled the great performance Wigan actually had put in before halftime. They actually play quite a good passing game once they get into their tempo, though it seems high pressing will do the job to unsettle their players. Roberto Martinez spoke about their high profile signing Boselli and perhaps he might be replacing Di Santo to provide the firepower(admittedly, I have only seen him play a few matches and he did not impress me at all). A surprise to me is that Crusat and Miyachi are constantly left on the bench, as they are players who can make things happen on the flanks, especially Crusat with his devastating speed.

How good is Fulham actually? To me, very. The way they played, with masquerading fullbacks Riise and Riether along with Kacaniklic and Duff's fast feet, have impressed me tremendously. The addition of Berbatov has only gone some way to replace Dembele, with his languid playing style complementing his ability to pick out and execute a pass to the players on the wings. Rodallega, with his speed but woeful finishing, on the other hand, hasn't been able to replicate the impact Dempsey had for the team. To me, that is the only major weak point for the team. The defence is also solid and I don't expect them to concede too many goals this season.

Predictions:
Fulham should win this match comfortably. I find the possibility of a red card for Wigan or a penalty for Fulham to be highly likely, with Alcaraz, Caldwell and Ramis all quite harsh and slow in their tackles and Fulham's wingers both looking to cut in. An alternative will be for Wigan to push their wingbacks a bit further back to deal with the threats on the wings and pumping the ball up to their strikers at the channels for a good counter-attack. This seems unlikely as Roberto Martinez sticks tightly to his passing game and I'll say that it will be hard for them to find a goal that way. Martinez likes to send Jordi Gomez on as a subsitute though I cant phantom why and I expect Wigan to fade even more after that by now routine move. Expect Fulham to carry on their form from the West Brom game and it will probably be an enjoyable game at that.