English Premier
2013-04-17 - Manchester City vs Wigan Athletic
A Sports Betting Pick by Auls
Football: English Premier League
Wednesday 17 April 2013 - Kick Off 7:45pm
Manchester City
After booking their place at Wembley for the FA Cup Final in May, Manchester City are now focused on finishing the Premier League on a high. They won the Manchester derby recently and it has been made very clear that Roberto Mancini expects his side to make a statement of their intentions for next season by forcing Manchester United to earn every point to win the title.
While Manchester City were playing in the Semi Final of the FA Cup last weekend, Manchester United were once again moving 15 points clear in the Premier League. While it is virtually over, City are looking to see off their challengers for second place in the table and so will be focused in the final two months of the season. They have a 11-3-1 record at the Etihad Stadium this season, scoring 35 goals and conceding 11 in those games.
Manchester City have won 7 of their last 8 games in all competitions, including beating Manchester United and Chelsea in back to back games. They have also won 8 of their last 9 games at home in all competitions, and come into this having won 4 in a row without conceding a goal.
David Silva will likely be kept out of the side until the weekend. However, Maicon, Jack Rodwell and Micah Richards could all be back in the squad.
Wigan Athletic
It was a proud day for Dave Whelan and Roberto Martinez as Wigan Athletic reached the FA Cup Final with a comfortable win over Millwall on Saturday. However, Martinez has sounded a warning that this would not be a successful season if Wigan do not keep their place in the Premier League and they are certain to have a fight on their hands to do that.
While Wigan were not in action this weekend in the Premier League, they would not have been happy to see Sunderland win at Newcastle United. That means Wigan remain in 18th place in the Premier League, but they are 3 points behind Aston Villa in the safety zone albeit with 2 games in hand. They have a decent 4-3-8 record away from home this season, scoring 17 goals and conceding 25 in those games.
Wigan Athletic have only lost 1 of their last 8 games in all competitions, although that was a thumping 0-4 loss to Liverpool at home. More impressively, Wigan have lost just 1 of their last 10 away games in all competitions and have actually won 3 of their last 4 on their travels.
There are no new injury worries for Roberto Martinez to manage, although some changes to the first team could be made.
Head to Head
Manchester City beat Wigan Athletic 0-2 at the DW Stadium earlier this season and have now won 6 in a row against their North-West rivals all without conceding a goal.
City have won 4 in a row at home against Wigan.
Prediction
I know Manchester City have had one day less to prepare for this game than Wigan Athletic, but they are also playing at a very high level at the moment and I do expect them to win the game.
I think City will be good enough to win this by a couple of goals at least.
The Statistics :
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The Pick :
Manchester City 3-0 Wigan Athletic
Gooner’s Statistical Value Bet
I'll back Manchester City -1.5 Asian Handicap @ 1.90
