English FA CUP
2013-05-11 - Manchester City vs Wigan Athletic
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English FA Cup Final
Saturday 11 May 2013 - Kick Off 5:15pm
This game is live on TV
Manchester City
Manchester City may have a chance of winning their third trophy in consecutive seasons, but the rumour mill suggests that Roberto Mancini will be removed as manager of the club at the end of the season. The owners of the club clearly feel the City squad was good enough to make a more serious attempt at retaining their Premier League title from last season, and it seems the FA Cup will not be enough to keep them happy.
While the side are 10 points behind Manchester United in the Premier League table, they have managed to keep a run going in the FA Cup. Manchester City have beaten Watford, Leeds United and Barnsley at home, while also taking out Stoke City away and Chelsea in the FA Cup Semi Final to book their place in the Final.
City have only lost 1 of their last 8 games in all competitions, and they have won 6 of those games so the form is decent ahead of the Cup Final. However, they have only won 3 of their last 8 games played away from the Etihad Stadium, even if one of those wins was here at Wembley in the Semi Final.
Costel Pantilimon is going to start in goal in place of Joe Hart. Yaya Toure is available for selection after overcoming an injury.
Wigan Athletic
There is no doubt that this is a big moment in the history of Wigan Athletic, but it is also one that feels like a bittersweet moment for them. After losing 2-3 against Swansea in the Premier League on Tuesday, it does look like Wigan are going to lose their place in the top flight and I don't see them having enough to get back into the Premier League out of a tough Championship Division.
Many fans worried that a run in the FA Cup was going to cost Wigan their future in the Premier League, but they had a number of positive results that looked like proving this to be a huge season for them. However, it looks like this could be the last high point of the season unless they can use a potential Cup win to fire them to wins at Arsenal and against Aston Villa in the League.
Wigan Athletic have beaten Bournemouth, Macclesfield, Huddersfield Town and Everton before taking out Millwall in the FA Cup Semi Final. However, since the win over Millwall, Wigan have won just 1 of their last 5 games in the Premier League and they have been beaten on 3 of those occasions with defensive injuries piling up.
Maynor Figueroa, Ivan Ramis, Ronnie Stam and Jean Beausejour are all definitely ruled out for Wigan, while Antolin Alcaraz is unlikely to be risked.
Head to Head
Manchester City completed the League double over Wigan Athletic with a 0-2 win at the DW Stadium followed by a 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium last month.
That means City have won the last 7 games between the teams while keeping clean sheets in all of those games.
Prediction
You have to think Manchester City are going to be too strong for Wigan Athletic, especially with all the defensive problems the latter have coming into this game.
However, I will be interested to see how they respond to rumours that the manager will be fired at the end of the season, while Wigan's players have to put aside their League disappointment to focus on this one.
No FA Cup Final has been won by more than one goal since 2004 when Manchester United beat Millwall, so instead I will back City to win this one with another clean sheet against Wigan.
The Pick :
Manchester City 1-0 Wigan Athletic
