Wigan Athletic V Aston Villa
Saturday, 18th December – 15:00 (GMT)
It would be fair enough to say that Gerard Houllier isn’t the most popular man in Birmingham, with the Frenchman enraging supporters when he let his emotions get the better of him at his former stamping ground, Liverpool, two weeks ago. The former Liverpool boss committed three cardinal sins, the first was to touch the ‘This is Anfield’ sign en route to the pitch. The second was to completely disregard the travelling contingent of Villa fans which spent a lot of money and time to watch the game, while the third was his comments in a post-match interview suggesting he wasn’t overly concerned with the final result – Losing 3-0 – because it was against a club he admires and still holds dear to his heart. I’m afraid taking a sentimental stance doesn’t tend to get you very far in the Premier League.
As well as Houllier’s antics on Merseyside, fans weren’t in the slightest bit amused with the performance of their team. It was their third league defeat on the spin at the time, while it also left the club precariously close to the relegation zone. However, faltering levels of morale, both inside and outside the club, were handed a boost when Villa overcame local rivals West Brom at Villa Park last weekend, ending a barren spell of four games without winning in the process. But instead of the media singing Houllier’s praises, they were instead keen to focus on why former club captain Richard Dunne wasn’t even named in the starting XI, with speculation rife over a dressing room bust-up between player and manager. With the Villans still just four points above the relegation zone, any ill-feelings towards one another is like shooting yourself in the foot and the supporters are praying that if there is anything hospitable going on behind the scenes, it is resolved quickly.
This match is going to be marred by so many absentee’s for both sides, with Wigan manager Roberto Martinez now starting to rue the unavailability and ineligibilty of some of his stars ahead of another crucial league fixture which, considering they find themselves languishing in the relegation zone, they can ill-afford not to win. The Latics are without suspended duo Maynor Figeruoa and Hendry Thomas, while Emmerson Boyce and Franco Di Santo are also out with injuries. Tom Cleverely, on loan from Manchester United, is also a major doubt and the latter in particular, should he fail his late fitness test, will be sorely missed in a team starved of noteworthy individuals.
Villa, meanwhile, have been dealt a huge blow with news that Ashley Young will miss the trip up north altogether with a knee injury. Even though Young hasn’t quite glistened as he did throughout the previous term, he’s still a very important player for Villa and one who like Cleverely for Wigan will be sorely missed. However, Houllier will be chuffed to hear that Gabriel Agbonlahor is fit to start and will be hungry to add to his tally of goals against Wigan, with the England international having found the back of the Wigan net in two of his last three appearances at the DW Stadium.
Another statistic which took us by surprise was this beauty: Only one of the last ten league meetings between the two has finished with the home side celebrating victory, with none of the last eight ending in a home win. Just as well as we fancied an Aston Villa win anyhow.
While the fans are eager to get rid of Houllier, the board have recently pledge their support to the manager and the players did something similar last weekend as they ended a dismal patch of form by beating locals West Brom at Villa Park. A win which was sought-after, but it hasn’t improved their situation immensely. Villa still find themselves too close to the bottom three for comfort and can’t afford to ease off the gas now.
The hosts, Wigan, are, however, unbeaten in their last four home matches and have a couple of dangerous individuals in the form of Charles N’Zogbia and Hugo Rodellega to give Houllier something to think about. But Villa, after that hard-fought victory over the Baggies last weekend, would appear as though they’ve awoken from their slumber. It has taken a while but they’ve finally got their tails up, got that elusive win under their belts and will now target more quick-fire success before they break into the new year, hopefully not worse for wear.
In Agbonlahor they have an outlet guaranteed to cause a make-shift Wigan defence plenty of problems, a winger in Stewart Downing bang in form with a mean delivery- The former Middlesbrough ace is the club’s top scorer in the league this season with five goals – while the youngsters who have deputised for the Villa veterans have stepped up to the plate in commendable fashion. Granted consistency hasn’t been their forte this season, having not won back-to-back games in the Premier League all season, but they’ll struggle to find a better opportunity to string a run of wins together than a trip to Wigan, where the hosts are depleted, albeit unbeaten in their last four at home, but a team destined it would seem to spend the entirety of the campaign flirting with relegation zone. Villa, on the other hand, really should be challenging further up the table but must start playing to their potential before the majority of punters can really start to take them seriously again.
Matt’s Selection(s):
Aston Villa to WIN – 2.70 WilliamHill
Gabriel Agbonlahor to Score – 3.20 Coral
Has scored in two of his previous three visits to Wigan’s DW Stadium and will be eager to build on his miserly total of just one league goal thus far.
