Well to the last match of the season, the 38th. It has been a roller coaster of a season, lots of ups & downs. Luckily for Wigan we’ve ended on a up, beating Blackburn 1-0 on Monday night to ensure an 8th season in the Premier League for the 2012/13 season.
To acknowledge this, Wigan fans are being asked to give the Wigan Athletic club a minutes applause @ 3:08pm during the Wolves match. So please join me Sunday afternoon in ensuring the club realise what they mean to us as fans.
Previous League matches between Wigan & Wolves have seen us play in the Premier League (of course), the Championship & the old Division 3 before the branding people got their way.
Division 3 in 85/86 saw a 2-2 draw & a well remembered 5-3 win in April 86 with Aspinall getting a Hat-trick, though 2 where penalties weren’t they Warren. 88/89 saw 1 draw & 1 defeat.
Re-matched again in 04/05 in the Championship saw a 3-3 draw @ Molineux, with Nathan, Jason & Matt getting the goals & then a good 2-0 win back @ the JJB in the January with Ellington getting them both.
Since 2009, we’ve played Wolves in the Premier League, the 5 matches have seen 3 wins and 2 defeats, the most recent when Wigan were Crap in November losing 3-1 and recording a then 8th straight Premier League defeat……oh how we look back at those days and laugh.
Overall in the League against Wolves, Wigan have won 5, drawn 3 and lost 3.
We’ve played Wolves a couple of times in Cup games, both in the FA Cup. Last one was a frustrating 3rd Round match for Wigan. Then punching above their weight Wigan took Wolves to the 89th minute before that big fella and I don’t mean tall, scored with a header from a corner to make it 1-0 back in December 1999. The other match a 2nd Round tie in December 1987 saw Hilditch score Wigan’s only goal in a 3-1 defeat.
Referee for the match is Michael Oliver, apparently this will be the 5th time he’s been the ref for Wigan this season. Amazingly even though this bloke has reffed 10% of Wigan’s games, he’s never seen Wigan lose, which takes some doing with our season. The 2-0 win against QPR, then draws against Liverpool, Stoke & WBA.
Form going into this match couldn’t be polar opposites! Wigan have a well known 4 wins & 2 defeats in their last 6, with their latest win against Blackburn on Monday ensuring Premier League football for an 8th season. Wolves on the other hand have drawn 3 and lost 3 of their 6, with their last 2 matches being draws, their last outing a good 0-0 against an inform Everton.
In the table the teams sit in the following positions:
15th Wigan 37 40pts -21
16th Aston Villa 37 38pts -14
17th QPR 37 37pts -22
———————————–
18th Bolton 37 31pts -29
19th Blackburn 37 31pts -29
20th Wolves 37 25pts -41
Neither team can better their league position, only change can be Wigan losing places, so a win for Wigan will ensure 15th place. I seem to believe each position in the final league table represents about £900K to £1m in prize money. So Dave will hoping that war chest gets filled even more with a 15th place finish. Wolves will just hope for anything for pride.
Team news, is mixed for Wolves Christophe Berra, Michael Kightly both face late fitness tests. Matt Jarvis, Sebastien Bassong & Kevin Foley all have injuries which meant none of them played against Everton. While David Davis is doubtful with a head injury.
As for Wigan and our Team News officially sponsored this week by Elastoplast is that only Dave Jones (no not the Manager) is the only doubt for Bob.
The result, we’ve been rather greedy with asking and getting 3 points a match, like matches before I’ll be happy with a great game of football. I’ve got my ticket and I’ll be in the DW’s Springfield Stand, (TNS made that happen don’t you know), hope we have a good send off? For what has indeed been a roller coaster of a season!
All the best.
Andy
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