English Premier
2011-10-29 - Wigan vs Fulham
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football : English Premier League
Saturday 29 October 2011 - Kickoff 3pm
Wigan
The pressure on Roberto Martinez is unlikely to be increased from the Chairman Dave Whelan nor from the stands as everyone at the club completely respect the Spaniard and the fact he turned down the chance to move to a bigger club to remain at the DW Stadium. However, that won't be enough to save them in the Premier League this season and the team need to start picking up points.
Wigan are 19th in the Premier League thanks to their superior goal difference compared with Blackburn, but they have only earned 5 points this season with all of those coming against the three promoted sides from last season. The Latics are 1-1-2 at home this season, scoring 5 goals and conceding 6.
The team have actually lost 7 games in a row in all competitions, including 6 in a row in the Premier League. After conceding just 1 goal in 3 games to begin the season, Wigan have since conceded 16 goals in 7 games and they have only scored more than 1 goal in a game in 1 of their 10 games this season. The team have lost back to back games at home.
Hugo Rodallega returned to the squad recently and they have a clean bill of health to report going into this game.
Fulham
Fulham were beaten 1-3 at home last week by Everton, but I think everyone connected with the club would have been surprised by the result considering Bobby Zamora somehow missed an open goal with the score tied 1-1 and minutes remaining to play. Martin Jol has overseen an inconsistent start to the new season and the result last weekend just highlights that.
The loss dropped Fulham to 17th in the Premier League and left them with just 1 win from their 9 League games this season. Fulham have continued to struggle away from home and have started with a 0-1-3 record this season, scoring just 1 goal and conceding 6. Fulham, along with Wigan, are the lowest away scorers in the League this season.
Fulham have won just 2 of their last 13 games in all competitions, and come into this game having lost their last 3 games. Fulham have lost back to back away games in all competitions and they have scored just 2 goals in their last 5 away games, although both of those came in the same game. The team have scored in just 3 of their 11 away games this season.
Phillipe Senderos should be available this weekend after missing a couple of weeks through injury, but Aaron Hughes looks set to miss out. Simon Davies is not likely to return to the squad until late November.
Head to Head
Wigan have not beaten Fulham in 9 games in the Premier League, although 6 of those games have ended in draws while all of Fulham's wins have come at home.
The last 5 games between the two teams at the DW Stadium have all ended in low-scoring draws.
The last two times they have met here have both ended 1-1.
Prediction
This has all the makings of a low scoring game as both sides will not want to lose this game and both sides have had their struggles in front of goal.
Fulham have particularly struggled to score goals away from home, failing to find the net in 8 of their 11 games this season, but they have also been fairly strong defensively with 5 clean sheets in those games including at West Brom recently.
I was sorely tempted to pick a draw in this game, but I think it may even be worth taking it a step further and picking this game to end with 'no goalscorer', which gives us the additional security of still having a winner if the game is opened up with an 'own goal'.
I just feel both teams have been missing something in the final third in their games so far, and also both may just be glad to get away with a point after recent struggles.
The 'no goalscorer' is priced up at a tempting 10.00 at Stan James and that will be my pick for minimum stakes on this game.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Wigan 0-0 Fulham
