English Premier
2012-08-19 - Wigan Athletic vs Chelsea
A Sports Betting Pick by Lamps
Football : England : Premier League
Sunday 19th August - Kickoff 1:30pm
Wigan
Roberto Martinez continues to work miracles at Wigan as once again they escaped the drop last time around. As ever, the objective is to retain their Premiership status, a status that they have held onto since 2004. On Sunday Wigan begin their season at home to the Champions of Europe Chelsea in the first of the Super Sunday games shown live on Sky Sports.
A run of 7 wins from 9 at the back end of the season saw Athletic propel from the bottom of the league to 15th and safety. They will hope that they don't require such a late run this time around to stay in the division.
So far 3 new names have joined the squad, Kone, Ramis and Fyvie whilst Kirkland, Rodallega, Diame and Nicholls have left the club. Kone is a good striker that will rotate with Di Santo whilst the other additions will help replace those who have departed.
A worry for Wigan is that they lose Moses to ironically Chelsea because he was exceptional last year and will be hard to replace. The good news is it seems he won't be sold before this game and should start against his potential new employers.
The 3-4-2-1 system used by Martinez worked wonders last year but sides have had a whole summer to study Wigan and shouldn't be caught out as they were last year. That being said, Wigan drew with Chelsea at the DW last year and were very unfortunate to concede a late goal in a 2-1 loss at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea
Chelsea have strengthened their squad ahead of this campaign. The Chairman has given Di Matteo plenty of ammunition to challenge the top 2 and I think Chelsea are good bet to finish in the top 3 this year.
Since taking over, Di Matteo has won the FA Cup and Champions League but he couldn't get a top 4 finish. This year that is a must and the signings of Oscar, Marin and Hazard show real intent and they look a great trio to add creativity with Mata, Sturridge and Lampard already in the squad.
Drogba is gone but that means Torres is number one now and already he's scored this year with 1 of Chelsea's 2 goals against City in the Community Shield. I expect Chelsea to have Torres up top with Hazard, Mata and Ramires behind him and Lampard with Mikel behind them. Marin has a knock and Oscar has only just started training with the team following his Olympic Silver Medal.
The defence is a little worrying, Luiz is very hot and cold whilst slowly more and more errors appear in Terry's game. I still think he's one of the best centre backs in the league but now sides are exploiting his lack of pace more than ever. Cole is world class still and Ivanovic is reliable at right back but for whatever reason this side isn't watertight as it was under Mourinho.
Betting Verdict
Chelsea enter this game as massive odds on shots, currently 1.50 in most places and that is shocking value. We all saw how Wigan played towards the back end of last season and Martinez is only getting stronger as a coach. This is no gimme and the odds suggest Chelsea by a couple but for myself it will be much closer than that.
I firmly believe Wigan will score in this game given their free flowing nature and the attacking philosophy installed by Martinez. Chelsea are shaky at the back and Wigan plus 1 is tempting as Chelsea will just want to get 3 points here and won't over commit.
However, at odds against I think both to score is a good bet. Chelsea have scored in the last 12 occasions that they have faced Wigan, whilst the home side scored at Stamford Bridge last year and in 2 of the last 3 games at the DW.
I think Chelsea just nicks this possibly 2-1 but for the odds on show, both to score as an underdog play seems nice to me.
Good Luck
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Wigan 1-2 Chelsea
