English Premier
2012-04-21 - Fulham vs Wigan Athletic
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Saturday 21 April 2012 - Kick Off 3pm
Fulham
Fulham have had a few days off at this late stage of the season and this will be their first game since Easter Monday. The season has been a productive one after a few teething problems in the early days of the Martin Jol reign and they will look to finish with a flourish and a possible top half position come May.
They are 10th in the Premier League table and are only 4 points behind 7th placed Everton in a bid to make sure they finish in this half. Fulham are 8-5-4 at Craven Cottage, scoring 32 goals but also conceding 24.
After losing 3 League games in a row, Fulham have bounced back with a couple of wins of their own and they drew their last game 1-1 with Chelsea here. They have only lost 1 of their last 9 home games in all competitions, that coming in the middle of March to Swansea, and they have won 6 of those games.
Martin Jol's side will be boosted by the return of Andrew Johnson and Pavel Pogrebnyak to the squad. Stephen Kelly and Steve Sidwell look set to miss this game.
Wigan Athletic
Roberto Martinez needs to be given all the praise in the World after guiding his Wigan Athletic side to a number of impressive results over the last few weeks, results that look to have kept them in the Premier League. The Spanish coach made sure he changed his tactics to give his side an edge and he has been rewarded with some fine performances.
Wigan moved up to 16th in the Premier League table courtesy of a 1-2 win at Arsenal last Monday night and they are now 5 points clear of Bolton Wanderers in the final relegation spot, although the latter do have two games in hand. The Latics have improved their away record to 5-3-9 on the season, scoring 18 goals and conceding 33.
The team have picked up 14 points from their last 21 available in the League, while they have won 4 of their last 5 games. That alone would be fairly remarkable for a team that is in the relegation zone, but it is more impressive when considering they have won at Liverpool, at home to Manchester United and at Arsenal in that run of games. Wigan have won 3 of their last 5 away games and only lost 1 of those games in controversial fashion at Chelsea.
Hugo Rodallega could return to the squad having returned to training. Shaun Maloney missed the win at Arsenal but may be passed fit for this game.
Head to Head
Fulham were 0-2 winners at the DW Stadium earlier this season, improving their run to 10 unbeaten against Wigan in the Premier League.
They have won their last 3 games at Craven Cottage against Wigan, including a 2-0 win last season, and are unbeaten in 4 here since a 0-1 loss.
Prediction
Wigan's form has been so high of late that they are bound to have their supporters in this one, but I just don't want to under-estimate a Fulham team that will be chomping at the bit to get back onto the field, while also bringing back two top strikers that will cause Wigan problems.
There also has to be a moment when Wigan just take a breath after all their recent achievements and have a slight let-down performance compared with all the results they have picked up recently.
However, I don't think Fulham are the call at odds on against one of the most in-form teams in the Premier League so I will leave the win-draw-win market alone.
Instead, I am going to play a market that looks to be giving out a little bit of value and that is on the away side to score more than 1 goal- Wigan's new 3-4-3 tactic seems to have made them a much more attacking threat and I think they will be given some space by a Fulham team that will be expected to attack.
Wigan have also scored 2 goals in 3 of their last 5 away games at Arsenal, Liverpool and Bolton Wanderers, while also scoring twice against West Brom at home. This option has been priced up at 3.25 and it is given more credence by the fact that Fulham conceded 3 goals here to Swansea recently, another team that plays fast slick passing football as Wigan do.
I feel much more comfortable taking Wigan in this way rather than picking them to win the game and I'll have a small interest in that.
The Statistics :
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
The Pick :
Fulham 2-2 Wigan Athletic
