Wigan Athletic head for South Wales on Saturday to entertain Swansea City.  Obviously this is a huge game for the Swans as it is their first home game in the top flight snd the football fates decreed that it would have to be against Wigan Athletic!

Aside from the obvious links that both clubs now share, there are three points to play for and with Latics wanting to build on the 1-1 draw against Norwich City last time out, the Swans will be even more anxious to put on a show following their 4-0 annihilation by Manchester City at the Etiad Stadium four days ago.

Roberto Martinez is likely to get a hostile reception due to his perceived betrayal of the club when he moved to Wigan Athletic just over ttwo years ago.  However, it is worth noting that Martinez insisted on leaving the Liberty Stadium that he would only have gone to his first real love in English football and that of course is Latics.  He has since backed this up by refusing to leave the DW Stadium to take the post of Aston Villa manager this summer and hopefully the home faithful will bear that in mind, along with the legacy of free flowing football that the Swans still hold dear to this day.

Speaking of his return to a place still very close to his heart Roberto said,

“I am really looking forward to coming back to Swansea and seeing so many familiar faces.  Destiny couldn’t have played a better to be part of Swansea’s first Premier League game at the Liberty.  Whatever happens Swansea will always be a unique club to me as a player, captain and manager”.

Still all of that is history and what matters most on Saturday is that the Blues return with the three points that are on offer.  They are likely to be without centre half Antolin Alcaraz, who is seeking a move from the DW Stadium according to a source close to the club, but other than that the team will not be too much different from the one that did reasonably well against the fired up Canaries last weekend.

As for Brendan Rodgers, he will be hoping that former Latic Scott Sinclair will be able to prove a point to Martinez, who ruled out making his signing permanent before the Swans stepped in last summer.  In fairness he had a blistering campaign reuklting in a Wembley hat trick that took the Swans into the promised land last May.

In doing so he also ensured that Swansea City became one of the elite, that is, teams who have won finals at the Old Wembley, the Millennium Stadium and the New Wembley.

Former Latics transfer targets Leon Britton and Angel Rangel will also be hoping to put one over on their previous boss whilst Leroy Lita is also likely to figure in proceedings.  Steven Caulker who is at the Liberty Stadium on loan from Tottenham Hostspur is also likely to make his secon start for the Swans.

As for a prediction, I’m going for another 1-1 draw which may well be a good point come the end of the season, becuase a lot of teams will also be feeling the hostile environment that the Liberty Stadium possesses when filled to the rafters when it comes to visiting South Wales this season.

History of this fixture,
 
08/08/1981 – Pre Season Friendly – (H) – 2-3 – (Mike Quinn, Clive Evans) – 4,140

11/08/1982 – Pre Season Friendly – (H) – 1-4 – (Les Bradd) – 2,241

03/11/1984 – Division Three – (A) – 2-2 – (Graham Barrow, John Butler) – 3,883
Tunks, Cribley, Knowles, Kelly, Walsh, Methven, Butler, Bennett, Johnson, Newell, (Barrow), Langley

30/04/1985 – Division Three – (H) – 2-0 – (David Lowe, Gary Bennett) – 2,408
Tunks, Cribley, Butler, Kelly, Walsh, Methven, Lowe, Barrow, Bennett, (Aspinall Warren), Jewell, Langley

17/08/1985 – Division Three – (A) – 1-0 – (Graham Barrow) – 4,700
Tunks, Butler, Knowles, Kelly, Cribley, Methven, Lowe, Barrow, Newell, Langley, Griffiths
(Ian Griffith’s first game for Latics)

18/01/1986 – Division Three – (H) – 5-0 – (Colin Methven 2, Paul Cook, Tony Kelly, Warren Aspinall) – 3,308
Tunks, Butler, Knowles, Kelly, Cribley, Methven, Lowe, Barrow, Aspinall, Langley, Cook 

01/11/1988 – Division Three H 1-2 Tony Diamond 2432 Adkins, Atherton, Senior, Pilling, Beesley, Holden, Thompson, Butler, Entwistle, Diamond, Rimmer, (Tankard)

15/04/1989 – Division Three – (A) – 2-1 – (Don Page, (og)) – 3,719
Hughes, Senior, Tankard, Atherton, Johnson, Hilditch, Thompson, Rimmer, Ramage, Page, Griffiths, (Entwistle)

16/12/1989 – Division Three – (H) – 2-0 – (Phil Daley 2) – 2,034
Hughes, Senior, Tankard, Parkinson, Atherton, Patterson, Thompson, Rimmer, Pilling, (Carberry), Daley, Griffiths

21/04/1990 – Division Three – (A) – 0-3 – 3,141
Hughes, Senior, Tankard, Parkinson, Patterson, Johnson, Thompson, Rimmer, Baraclough, (Page), Daley, (Patterson), Griffiths

29/12/1990 – Division Three – (H) – 2-4 – (Don Page, Darren Patterson) – 2,525
Paladino, Parkinson, Tankard, Atherton, Johnson, Langley, Hildersley, (Patterson), Rimmer, Daley, (Carberry), Page, Griffiths B

06/04/1991 – Division Three – (A) – 6-1 (Gary Worthington 2, Phil Daley, Jimmy Carberry, Phil Jones, Bryan Griffiths) – 2,889 Hughes, Worthington, Tankard, Atherton, Johnson, Langley, Jones, Carberry, Daley, Powell, (Appleton), Griffiths B

01/11/1991 – Division Three – (H) – 1-0 – (Alan Johnson) – 2,092
Adkins, Parkinson, Tankard, Johnson, Williams, Langley, Powell, Connelly, Daley, Jones, (Smyth), Griffiths, (Worthington)

14/03/1992 – Division Three – (A) – 0-3 – 3,726
Adkins, Parkinson, Tankard, Johnson, Skipper, Langley, Jones, Pilling, (Powell), Daley, Worthington, Patterson

29/08/1992 – Division Two – (H) – 2-3 – (Bryan Griffiths 2 (pens)) – 1,685
Adkins, Wilson, Makin, Robertson, Doolan, Langley, Jones, Powell, Daley, Worthington, Griffiths (Debuts for Ian Wilson and Chris Makin)

04/05/1993 – Division Two – (A) – 1-2 – (Chris Sharratt) – 7,381
Adkins, Doolan, Tankard, Johnson, Pilling, Langley, Skipper, White, Daley, Sharratt, Griffiths, (Ogden)
(Debut for Neil Ogden)

29/10/1996 – Division Three – (A) – 1-2 – (Isidro Diaz) – 2,227

25/01/1997 – Division Three – (H) – 3-2 – (Graeme Jones 2, Ian Kilford) – 4,058
Butler, Bishop, Johnson, Greenall, Pender, Morgan, Kilford, Jones, (Biggins 87), Sharp, Martinez, Lowe

12/08/2000 – Division Two – (A) – 0-0 – 8,391
Carroll, Bradshaw, Green, Sheridan, McGibbon, Griffiths, Nicholls (sent off 45), Ashcroft, (Martinez 73), Redfearn, Haworth, Liddell (Debut for Lee Ashcroft)

06/01/2001 – Division Two – (H) – 2-0 – (Andy Liddell 2) – 5,571
Stillie, DeZeeuw, Balmer, Bradshaw, Green, Sheridan, Martinez, Kilford, Liddell, Haworth, (Roberts 82), Ashcroft

26/10/2010 – The Carling Cup, 4 – (H) – 2-0 – (Mauro Boselli, Ben Watson) – 11,705
Al-Habsi, Stam, Caldwell G, Alcaraz, Figueroa, Moses, Watson, Thomas, Diame, Gomez, (N’Zogbia 66), Boselli, (Di Santo 78)
(Ex Latic David Cotterill played for the Swans)

Wigan Athletic/Swansea City links,

Warren Aspinall, Jamie Barnwell-Edinboro, Inaki Bergara, David Cotterill, Neil Davids, Paul Gardner, Shaun Garnett, Jordi Gomez, Graeme Jones, (a/man), Dennis Lawrence, Roberto Martinez (man), Pat McGibbon, Tony Pennock, Kevin Reeves, Jason Scotland, Scott Sinclair 

Other Wigan/Swansea links,

Alex Ferguson, Reg Cunliffe, Alan Sanders and George Eastham all played for Wigan Athletic and Swansea Town

Did you know – that former Latics midfielder Jason Koumas was the first player to score an international goal at Swansea’s Liberty Stadium?

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