As we lead up to the DW clash between Wigan & Manchester United, all the talk is about a few things, let’s list them:
> Should he have gone to Specsavers? – Dave Bryan
> Dave I wanted you stay at home Tuesday night watch Eastenders – Mike Riley
> Rabbit Punch to the Kidneys? – Branislav Ivanovic
> FA to charge Manager for not praising the Linesman – Roberto Martinez
> Charging towards Number 20 – Manchester United & Alex Ferguson
> How many Wigan players will be sent off – Phil Dowd (that’s the crystal ball bit)
So to the match, yes let’s get the stats out of the way, in all previous 13 Premier League matches between Wigan & Manchester United, the great and mighty Manchester United have won them all, throw in the League Cup Final of 2006 and make it 14.
In those matches Manchester United have scored 176 goals and Wigan just the 1, which was a quadruple deflection from a shock Rio Ferdinand back pass. That’s the sarcastic bit out of the way, I think it’s Wigan scored 3, Manchester United 37, or 41 adding the Carling Cup Final.
So to current form United are coming off the back of 8 wins on the spin, Wigan a decent patch of form when they only have to play 11 players with 3 wins & 4 draws in the last 9. Manchester United sit top of the League, Wigan 19th, we’d be 16th if it wasn’t for Dave Bryan, not that I’m bitter.
Who’ll be playing, well for Wigan unless Bob’s got any more worries, on post dramatic stress disorder or an injured kidney, it should be only Hugo who’s knee is a bit sore! As for Manchester United, I think they have a full set of players though Phil Dowd, did sneeze on Sunday but he should be fit for the Manchester United 12*.
* By the way this is the humour part of the preview, a little cynical joke, it’s not that we are bitter, just we as Wigan fans have to laugh at these things. We’ve had the ghost corner this season with a ref rewriting the 100+ year rule book, the recent Chelsea double offside farce and we’ll not mention Wayne’s elbow, Oh I just did, Sorry.
Back to the previous matches, well they have been a little one sided, 5-0 at Christmas, last season was 4-0 & 2-0 double (10-11), the season before that 5-0 twice (09-10) and 1-0 & a 2-1 (08-09) where we did scored first and our last goal against United in Rodallega in May 2009. This match we’ve recently also lost a few players along the way, with:
Sammon – Dec 11 & Alcaraz & Rodallega – Nov 10
So what to expect, I do hope 2 teams with respective good form for where they are in the league, both finish with 11 men. The match is remembered for football and how this was played! If Wigan can get a point I’d be happy, if not realistically if we can keep our goal difference in check I’d be happy with that. Just the unknown factor is Phil Dowd, we’ll just have to see.
Andy
SUBSCRIBE TO THE PIE AT NIGHT PODCAST
We promise you that it’s easier to subscribe to the podcast so you don’t have to rely on us to remind you when a new episode comes out.
Apple sorts can find it on iTunes here – https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-pie-at-night-podcast/id1097853442?mt=2
If you prefer a different podcast app then just search for “The Pie at Night Podcast”.
You can also find us on Stitcher, here – http://www.stitcher.com/podcast/the-pie-at-night-pocast/the-pie-at-night-podcast
If you’re that way out, you can find and subscribe to our RSS feed here – http://feeds.feedburner.com/thepieatnight
And if you just want to take pot luck then you can find all our episodes on our Soundcloud page
