English Premier
2008-08-24 - Wigan Athletic vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Lamps
Wigan
Steve Bruce's side are looking for their first points of the season when they host league leaders Chelsea at the JJB on Sunday.
Despite creating a hat-full of chances against West Ham at the weekend, Wigan only managed to score once and consiquently lost 2-1. In fact had it not been for their horrendous start, going 2-0 down in the the opening 10 minutes! Then perhaps Wigan would/should have gone on to win the game.
Palacios in the midfield was fantastic and completely bossed the game, whilst new summer signing Zaki scored a very classy goal on debut. Unfortunately Zaki was also a culprit of missing some guilt edge chances including an absolute sitter (with his head) when Wigan were looking for the equaliser in the closing stages after some sustained pressure.
In spite of his misses he did look highly impressive and his partnership with Heskey so far looks to be a good one. On Sunday Wigan will be hoping Palacios, Heskey and Zaki all repeat their performances from last week and if so we could be in for a decent game on Sunday.
Steve Bruce i'm sure would trade in a good performance for points but as luck has it Chelsea are the visitors to the JJB and I believe for Wigan to take anything from the game, a good performance is very much a necessity. Bruce won't be helped by injuries to Ryan Taylor and Erik Edman but he has been boosted by the return of creative, midfield-player Jason Koumas who marked a return to full fitness with a goal for Wales midweek.
Koumas is a key cog for Wigan, if he can tick and create chances for the front two then Wigan most definitely can cause the Blues some problems. However, a setback in my opinion is the defence, Melchiot and Bramble are two defenders that on their day can be as solid as anyone in this league but unfortunately for them, more often than not their performances are riddened with mistakes.
Up against a side that scored 4 goals and created a host of chances last week against the FA cup Winners, the Latics must play mistake free football and ensure that no "soft" goals are conceded (re Ashton's 2nd goal last week) if they are to take any points from this fixture.
Chelsea
Following on from Chelsea's demolition of Portsmouth last week, Scolari's men face their first away day of the season when they visit Wigan.
Big Phil could not of wished for a better start as coach of Chelsea, winning 4-0 in front of a full house at the Bridge. However, Scolari is fully aware that this is just one game and for Chelsea to be champions come May his side must produce in the next 37.
Last Sunday, everything went right for the Blues, the midfield dominated, Deco was fantastic, Anelka(the only fit forward) scored and Chelsea also kept a clean sheet. It's unlikely that there will be many days like this and the game at the JJB might just be one of those matches that the Blues will need to scrap and win ugly.
Since last Sunday, almost the entire Chelsea squad has featured in the midweek Internationals which has left Scolari only a couple of days to assess the fitness of his players and to fully prepare with his side. So far no press release has been made regarding injuries to any key players, apart from comments made by Vahid Halilhodzic (Ivory Coast head coach) who states that Didier Drogba will not be fit until October. Hopefully Chelsea come out and declare Didier's status, yet regarding the up coming game against Wigan he will certainly be absent.
In midfield Ballack is set to start again despite going off in the first half of last weeks Premiership opener. Michael Essien however hasn't appeared to regain his fitness in time and early reports suggest that he will again sit out. Jose Bosingwa, another player who was struggling with a niggle should be fit and it seems Chelsea will start with the same 11 that started last week. Saloman Kalou has returned to the squad from the Olympics but is only likely to make the bench.
Chelsea will try and exert the same high tempo football that was played last week, but with many players traveling all accross the globe to play in the Internationals midweek it's likely that many of them will have some fatigue issues especially with the lack of recovery time. This early in the season players are not up to full fitness and i'd be very surprised to see such a commanding performance from the Blue.
I do fully expect them to score and that might just be enough, however it's worth remembering that in last season's game at the Bridge Chelsea led until a last gasp Hesksy goal meant the points were shared. Will history repeat itself?
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Wigan 0-1 Chelsea
