Wigan Athletic vs Sunderland
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Today’s secondary featured game is the English Premier League game between Wigan Athletic and Sunderland.
Wigan have produced some surprise results over the past few weeks, which includes a rare away win against Sunderland. However, they were fortunate on the day and in fact, if you look through all of their recent good results, you’ll find fortune in those too. I cannot question the work ethic of Wigan’s players nor the growing promise of Nigerian attacker Victor Moses, who has picked up the mantle that Charles N’Zogbia held last season of carrying Wigan’s attack. However, they’re easily the weakest side in the Premier League defensively for my money, irrespective of what the statistics say. There’s a good unity about their team but there are no defensive leaders and thus and sustained attack does tend to damage Wigan. Additionally, the fact that only di Santo out of their strikers has scored this season is another huge problem for Martinez. Any side that cannot defend and cannot score will not last long in this division and I think Wigan are starting to realise that at long last. They claimed an impressive 2-2 draw at Stoke last match but they needed a late penalty to get it to that scoreline, especially as they’d been playing with ten men for some time prior to that. Wigan will always give 100% but it’s not always enough and I don’t think that it will be today.
O’Neill has whipped Sunderland into shape in no time whatsoever. It was inevitable that he would but I have to confess that I didn’t think he’d have them laying their lives on the line in each game but he has! Everyone is giving 100% and they’re all desperate to impress their talented new boss. Sunderland’s displays are not as cohesive as the Northern Irishman would like, I’m sure, but all his players are working hard and Sunderland are starting to score goals. Traditionally, Sunderland don’t play well away from home but if anyone can improve that then it’s their new boss with his impressive track record and I think that this game is the ideal opportunity for Sunderland to demonstrate just what they can do.
If Sunderland play as well in this game as they have in recent games then they should do well here. Wigan aren’t really good enough to beat Sunderland, in my view – if they manage it here then it’ll be due to Sunderland not showing up. For me, I think there’s a good amount of value on Sunderland to win this one with draw no bet cover as they’re simply a better side and they’re playing better football with everyone keen to impress their new boss.
Verdict: Sunderland to win with draw no bet at 9/10.
Tuesday’s Picks
As ever, if there are any explanations required then please feel free to post a comment! For the remainder of my thoughts on today’s games, see below, although I feel compelled to write that the below are not necessarily my tips but merely my thoughts to prevent endless questions about my thoughts on certain games!
English Premier League:
Tottenham Hotspur vs West Bromwich Albion (8) 2-1
Wigan Athletic vs Sunderland (5) 0-1
Manchester City vs Liverpool (7) 1-0
English Championship:
Bristol City vs Millwall (4)
Greek Super League:
Panionios vs Asteras Tripolis (6) 2-1
PAS Giannina vs OFI Crete (4) 0-1
AEK Athens vs Doxa Dramas (8) 2-0
Turkish Super Lig:
Trabzonspor vs Manisaspor (6) 1-0
Kayserispor vs Bursaspor (6) 1-1
Sivasspor vs Karabukspor (7) 1-0
Galatasaray vs Istanbul BB (7) 2-1, at least one red card in this game
Mersin Idmanyurdu vs Ankaragucu (6) 2-1
Enjoy your free betting tips!