Team News
Michel will be unavailable suffering from a dead leg but there are a number of options after some players, notably Beausejour, did well in midweek. Having said that I expect the team to be the same as last week with Hleb supporting Jerome in a 4-4-1-1.
Wigan are likely to be without Tom Cleverley and Hendry Thomas for this game. Charles N’Zogbia should start which will give everyone an opportunity for a good boo.
Last Meeting
The last meeting took place in February this year at St Andrews. Blues won through a James McFadden penalty after Keith Fahey er…fell over. It wasn’t a particularly exciting game.
Recent Form
Both teams have only won one league game so far this season but Blues are a few places ahead having secured two more draws. So far Wigan are unbeaten away from home but they have only played one game.
If Blues avoid defeat tomorrow they will have been unbeaten at home for an entire year.
Outlook
September 26th 2009. That’s the last day that we walked away from St Andrews upset after experiencing a defeat. Tomorrow we can make it a whole year which would be an amazing achievement. Of course we will be looking to do more than just avoid defeat after dropping points in our last three games. Wigan have been very inconsistent and looked poor against Man City last week. I tipped them to go down at the start of the season and so far I have seen nothing to change my mind.
This is the first of four home games against sides that we should be looking to beat if we are to finish in the top half of the table. Last week’s display at West Brom suggested that we will have to rely on our home form more than last year. Thankfully this is pretty good but I do wish we would go for it a bit more at home. What exactly is wrong with winning a game by more than one goal? I hope Beausejour gets some decent game time as he is the type of player that we have been missing in the last few years. We haven’t had a consistent threat from the left since Stan Lazaridis left. I’ll be disappointed if Bowyer lines up on the left after his performance last week.
As an attacking force we are doing OK having scored thirteen goals in all competitions this season but I’m beginning to worry a little bit about our defence. Keeping it tight at the back was the main reason for our success last season but so far they have not been the formidable unit we expect them to be. Stephen Carr is struggling with his injury and the pairing of Johnson and Dann have already had more shaky moments than for most of last year. After five league games last year we had conceded four goals despite playing both Man Utd and Tottenham away. In five games this year we have conceded eight. Wigan don’t have a great goal scoring record so we should be able to handle them but then I said that about West Brom. Hopefully they can get back to form tomorrow and start a run of four straight two nil home wins.
As a footnote I’d like to wish Kev’s lad Jordan a good day. His last visit was 26th September 2009 and if we lose tomorrow his next visit won’t be for a very long time!
My prediction Blues 1 Wigan 3 – Charles N’Zogbia hat trick.
No hat trick for N’Zogbia, but a good boo, yes