Latics Crazy

Chelsea v Wigan Athletic - Preview

Fri, 08 Apr 2011 08:44:00 +0000

POSSIBLE LINE-UPS:

Wigan: Al Habsi; Boyce, G.Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa; Watson, Cleverley, McCarthy, N’Zogbia, Moses, Rodallega.

Chelsea: Cech, Bosingwa Terry, Luiz, A.Cole, Ramires, Essien, Lampard, Malouda, Drogba, Torres.

THE PICTURE TELLS THE STORY:

Rodallega's penalty v Chelsea 09/10

Kapo’s goal v Chelsea 08/09

Heskey’s goal v Chelsea 07/08

LAWRO’S PREDICTION:

I just don't think Fernando Torres deserves his place in the Chelsea team at the moment, having seen him struggle at Stamford Bridge in midweek against Manchester United in their Champions League quarter-final.

But apart from that defeat, I think Chelsea are looking more like their old selves and they are likely to be too strong for Wigan.

The Latics are scrapping for their lives at the bottom of the table, and got a good point against Tottenham last week, but they cannot get a sequence of wins together and, at the moment, don't look like getting out of the bottom three.

Prediction: 2-0

LAST 5 MEETINGS - WITH MATCH REPORTS:

Wigan 0-6 Chelsea http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/eng_prem/8928161.stm

Chelsea 8-0 Wigan http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10429~47531,00.html

Wigan 3-1 Chelsea http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2009/sep/26/premier-league-wigan-athletic-chelsea

Wigan 0-1 Chelsea http://www.football.co.uk/match_reports/chelsea_wigan_1223066.shtml

Chelsea 2–1 Wigan http://www.wiganlatics.co.uk/page/MatchReport/0,,10429~44738,00.html

SATURDAY’S OTHER MATCHES INCLUDE:

Wolves v Everton (12:45 kick off - Live On Sky Sports HD 2)

Blackburn v Birmingham

Tottenham v Stoke

Bolton v West Ham

Man United v Fulham

Sunderland v West Brom

LATICS NEWS IN BRIEF:

· Vital Wigan Poll Results. Last week Wigan Athletic supporters on Vital Latics voted Antolin Alcaraz as their man of the match in the 0-0 home draw against Tottenham Hotspur with 44% of the votes. In second place was James McCarthy with 16% and Emmerson Boyce came third with 9% of the total votes.

· The Big Flag. Wigan Athletic supporter Chris Blackburn has began his search for the money needed for a HUGE Latics crowd-surfing flag at the DW stadium – 75 feet by 35 feet to be exact! To donate some money or just to simply have a look at the BIG plan go to www.Off-The-Post.net/

· Wigan On Tour. The Lucozade Fans Fives challenges got underway last month and we’re now into challenge 2: Matchday Madness. To see the entry for “Wigan On Tour” go to http://apps.facebook.com/lucozatefansfives/ click Wigan Athletic, then go to Wigan On Tour. They need your support to crown them best of every team that entered the competition!

· Fake Twitter Account. This week an account was removed by the moderators of Twitter, which was for a short amount of time, ran by someone pretending to be Tom Cleverley. I should stress that doing anything like this is against the basic rules of Twitter and even Facebook and MySpace for that matter.

· Stoke Away Coach. Latics Crazy are running a coach to our game against Stoke City on May 22nd priced at the extremely good price of just £13 per seat. Oh, and there’s only 1 person to a seat in-case your thinking of sitting on each-other! Book by simply contacting us on Twitter or Facebook where our name is “LaticsCrazy” as always. Alternatively if you have an account on our official website you can send “Sephton01” or “Latics” a private message.

· New Supporters Website. Check out Wigan’s newest fans website made by the creators of The Mudhutter, Ye Olde Tree & Crown and Not A Patch On. The website is called “This Northern Soul” and has already become popular with hundreds of the Latics faithful!

· Sunderland Away Coach. A different group of Latics fans have a coach going from Wigan North Western to Sunderland later on this month. To book onto their coach at £20 per person contact James Taylor on Facebook or send LaticsCrazy a message on Twitter/Facebook and we’ll be happy to send the information across to him.

· Blackpool sold out. It was revealed by the club a few days ago that the away allocation of 2,200 for our game at Blackpool as expected has completely sold out. We would like to thank our fans for the continued support of Wigan Athletic Football Club on the road, and of course at the DW stadium.

The Battle For Survival - Blackburn Rovers

Tue, 05 Apr 2011 11:45:00 +0000

"The point that saved our season" could well be the words of many Rovers fans at 6:50pm on May 22nd, refering to last weekend's creditable draw at the Emirates against an off form Arsenal side. Though; even though I wouldn't them to be relegated I do think our friends from Darwen may be the first ever Premier League winners to be relegated along with any other 2 teams from a possible 6/7 down near the bottom.

A lack of overall quality and leadership has been the main reason for their league position. Alright they may have Dunn, Robinson, Jones and our old Jason Roberts, but have you saw the style of football they play? They've certainly taken hoof ball upto Stoke's level this season, believe me, I saw them at the DW this season. The 4-3 Latics win earlier in the year was a stepping stone for us, but has hindered them ever since as Rovers continue to slide down the table.

Back to their players then, they have exactly the same problem as West Ham. England international in goal, good centre back, experianced centre midfielder (and captain) and a decent striker each. Apart from that the rest of both their squads are pretty average.

The departure/sacking of Sam Allerdyce was a big shock to every football fan in England and something I wouldn't be too forgiving about to the owners if I was him. Sam was doing a good job at Ewood, yeah the football they played was awful (and still is) but they got the points they needed with him as manager. Speaking several days after his sacking he said that his assistant who was almost certain to get the job "wasn't upto managing the club" and "they need a bigger name" at Blackburn.

The owners refused to listen and chose the cheap option of appointing Steve Kean on a full time basis after a 1-1 draw at home against West Ham United.

Here are Blackburn's remaining games:

Birmingham (H)

Everton (A)

Man City (H)

Bolton (H)

West Ham (A)

Man United (H)

Wolves (A)

Arsenal 3-0 Wigan Athletic

Sun, 23 Jan 2011 15:33:00 +0000

A Robin van Persie hat-trick saw Latics lose their 9th game of their Premiership campaign.

Early on Arsenal dominated and a goal seemed imminent. Finally the deadlock was broken on the 21st minute as Alex Song played in van Persie who finished coolly from the left hand side of the box. Moments later Arsenal could have had a second when Theo Walcott surged into the box and unselfishly squared the ball to Cesc Fabregas who was denied a goal by a superb block from Mohammed Diame before Steven Caldwell blocked Theo Walcott's follow up.

Arsenal were looking more and more dangerous and were only denied by Omani shot-stopper Ali Al-Habsi. The Bolton loanee made a few emphatic saves including an acrobatic stop off an audacious Samir Nasri hit. However, despite the barrage of Arsenal shots, the Gunners couldn't get a second goal before the interval.

The second half seemed like a turning point for Wigan as they came out the better side for the first few minutes but these few moments of dominance were ended abruptly by a piece of brilliance from Arsenal. Fabregas chipped an inch perfect long ball over the Latics defence which van Persie managed to latch onto and smash home post the Latics keeper. Wigan now 2-0 down and just trying to keep the score at a respectable level.

However, merely 10 minutes later, Cesc Fabregas was felled by Gary Caldwell which saw the Scottish centre back receive a red card and saw the Gunners get a penalty. Robin van Persie stepped up to take it eagerly awaiting his hat-trick, but he completely messed up and smashed the ball over into the stands. Chance wasted.

The game had seemed like it was going to end 2-0 as both teams had almost accepted the scoreline, but the Dutch striker, Robin van Persie was determined to get his hat-trick in which he did in the 85th minute. After great work from Theo Walcott, van Persie managed to secure the match ball and finish from a close angle.

So yet another game without a victory and the Latics will be praying for points against out of form Villa. Till then, goodbye!