Wigan v. Bolton

This has to be one of my least favourite fixtures of the season. Games against Wigan, especially away, never end well. We put in poor performances and get poor results (well not ALWAYS). But here we are again, playing Wigan for the fourth time this season. Our three previous meeting with Wigan this season have all been unsatisfying draws. In case you haven't gathered yet, I'm not looking forward to this. Let's just get on with it.

Wigan have been bumbling along as of late, getting 3 draws and a win in their last 4 matches. However history is on our side as Wigan haven't progressed past the fourth round in 24 years. The bad news for us is that the Wigan squad is at pretty much full strength, with the obvious exception of Ali Al Habsi as he can't play against his dear real club. They currently sit 10 places below us in the relegation zone. And that is all I have to say about Wigan without using mean words.

Things are not all well on the team news front for Bolton. We have lost Zat Knight, who has proven himself to be much less useless than I originally thought, for 4-6 weeks, which makes it a bloody good thing we bought Wheater. Let's hope the lad's game is as big as he is. We will also be without Danny Sturridge as he is cup-tied. Coyle will play a changed side, practically ensuring a rubbish match. Sigh. The winner of this game will be playing Fulham on Sunday, in what will hopefully be a significantly less rubbish match. This is a fixture we have the ability to win, but for some reason, usually avoid doing. It reeks of penalties to me.

Let's hope all my doom-and-gloom talk proves to be wrong and this actually proves to be a scintillating 8-0 win to the mighty Wanderers (never thought you'd see the word "scintillating" in a post about Wigan did you?). Come on you white men!