Football – England – Championship
Saturday 1st November 2014 – Kickoff: 1500hrs
Wigan’s recent run of eight matches without a win in the Championship came to an end in rather unexpected fashion last Saturday when they toppled Derby County 2-1 at the iPro Stadium to register a much needed three points for The Latics.
Defeats against Blackburn Rovers, Ipswich Town and Bournemouth, along with no fewer than five draws during this disappointing eight match sequence had plunged Uwe Rosler’s men into the lower reaches of the division, but the three points at Derby has lifted them away from the bottom three for now.
Wigan have lost just once at the DW Stadium so far this season but they’ve only managed two wins also – the draw has been the most prevalent result with stalemates against Reading, Nottingham Forest, Brentford and Millwall.
Fulham recently announced caretaker manager Kit Symons as their new permanent coach and Symons fully deserves the position as he’s steered The Cottagers to four league wins from their last seven matches with wins over Birmingham City, Bolton Wanderers, Norwich City and Charlton Athletic.
It should be noted though that Fulham have achieved all four of these recent wins at their Craven Cottage ground while away from home, their record still needs some urgent attention as it currently stands at a poor 1-1-5 10/21. That said, they did manage to squeeze out a point away at Rotherham United in a high-scoring 3-3 draw, and I daresay Symons will be keen to get his permanent position off to a solid start at Wigan this Saturday by at least avoiding defeat.
Wigan have been held to a number of draws at home while Fulham will be keen not to lose another away match. Fulham will go into this match with increased confidence following their recent win over Charlton along with Symons being made a permanent fixture, so I reckon this should be a close encounter. I’ll therefore back the value option of the draw here – could be 1-1.
Pick: Draw @ 3.40 Bet Victor
