Wigan Athletic v Tottenham Hotspur

[THFC6061]

DW Stadium, Loire Drive, Wigan (Capacity: 25,138 )
Sunday 21st February 2010, Kick Off 16:15
Premier League, Match 27 (26 for Wigan Athletic)










Wigan Athletic: 14th in Premier League, 25 points from 75
Tottenham Hotspur: 6th in Premier League, 43 points from 78

Referee: Alan Wiley
Assistant referees: Mick McDonough & Jeremy Simpson
Fourth official: Mark Clattenburg

COMMENT:

Wigan Athletic host Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday 21st February at the DW Stadium in a Premier League match which Wigan will be anxious to make amends for the 9-1 mauling Spurs inflicted on them at White Hart Lane in November 2009.

The match was Tottenham's highest score in a Premier League match and a personal triumph for striker Jermain Defoe, who became only the third player to score five goals in a match in Premier League history (Alan Shearer and Andrew Cole being the other two). Further Spurs goals came from Peter Crouch, Aaron Lennon, David Bentley (who's free kick was originally given as a Wigan own goal) and Niko Kranjcar deep into injury time. Tottenham Hotspur's haul of eight goals in the second half was a new Premier League record. Wigan's goal came from Paul Scharner.

Wigan come into the game after a 0-0 home draw against Bolton Wanderers on Wednesday night which was most notable for the fact that both teams could only muster a single attempt on goal between them in the entire match. Tottenham's last match was also against Bolton Wanderers away in the FA Cup Fifth Round and resulted in a 1-1 draw with Jermain Defoe scoring his 21st goal of the season.

Spurs play Bolton in the FA Cup 5th Round replay at White Hart Lane on Wednesday 24th February with the winner facing Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Quarter Finals on 6th March.

Last season, the teams met three times with Wigan earning a 0-0 draw at White Hart Lane in the League followed by a 1-0 win at the JJB Stadium (now re-named the DW Stadium). Spurs beat Wigan 3-1 in the FA Cup third round at White Hart Lane with two goals from Roman Pavlyuchenko and one from Luka Modric.

Tottenham's current squad features ex-Wigan player Wilson Palacios.

TEAM NEWS:

Wigan's Titus Bramble is unlikely to shake off the hamstring injury he picked up against Bolton in midweek. Aside from that Roberto Martinez only has concerns over Steve Gohouri and Richard Kingson.

Jermaine Jenas is a doubt ahead of Sunday's Barclays Premier League clash at Wigan Athletic. The midfielder has picked up a groin strain that also kept him out of last weekend's FA Cup tie at Bolton. Manager Harry Redknapp is hopeful Ledley King will be available for the trip to the JJB, although he acknowledges the defender's knee problems will need to be managed carefully during a busy period, with the replay against Bolton coming up in midweek before Everton visit the Lane next Sunday.

He said: "Hopefully Ledley will be available but it's a juggling act with him this week because we've got three games and he can't play Sunday, Wednesday, Sunday. We'll have to decide how we go with him." Aaron Lennon remains out, along with Benoit Assou-Ekotto, and both are making steady progress from groin and hip injuries respectively. On Aaron, Harry added: "He's not fit yet but he's improving. It takes time but he's working every day with the fitness coaches and they've stepped up his training programme. "He's not too far away from fitness and he's working very hard. He's desperate to play and we want him back as soon as possible, but only when he's ready to play. "We've missed him but David Bentley's been in great form. However, Aaron's got that pace to get at people and he's a fantastic player, so any team would miss him."

Of the longer term injuries, Harry also had an update on defender Jonathan Woodgate, who has been restricted to just three appearances this season due to groin trouble. "Jonathan's still out in America. He's been out there for six weeks now seeing people about his groin and trying to get it sorted out. "He's making slow progress and he wants to get back here as soon as possible. I feel sorry for him because he's desperate to play, but getting to the bottom of this injury has been difficult." Goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, meanwhile, continues his rehab from wrist and pelvis injuries. Younes Kaboul and Kyle Walker available again after being cup-tied in the match against Bolton Wanderers.

MATCH FACTS:

Head-to-head

• Tottenham's 9-1 win over Wigan in November was their biggest-ever win in the top-flight.

• The five goals Jermain Defoe notched in that match equalled the most goals scored in one Premier League game, previously achieved by Alan Shearer and Andy Cole.

• The clubs met for the first time in their history in 2005 in Wigan's first season in the Premier League. They have now met 10 times, Tottenham have five wins and Wigan earned their first win last season, a 1-0 victory at home.

Wigan Athletic

• Wigan's only win in their last 11 league matches was against Wolves on 16 January.

• The Latics' last home league win was against Sunderland on 28 November.

• Wigan have conceded 49 league goals this season - only Burnley (50) and Hull (51) have worse records.

Tottenham Hotspur

• Tottenham have only scored three goals in the league in 2010 and their only victory in six league matches came at home against Fulham.

• Spurs have not been lower than sixth position all season.

• Tottenham have not won in any competition since August after failing to score in the first half, which is a run of 29 games.

LAST MATCH LINE-UPS:

Wigan Athletic (D 0-0 Bolton Wanderers H):

Kirkland, Caldwell, Scharner, Bramble (Scotland 51), Melchiot, Figueroa, N'Zogbia, McCarthy, Diame, Moreno (Moses 80), Rodallega

Substitutes: Stojkovic, Boyce, Thomas, Gomez, Sinclair

Tottenham Hotspur (D 1-1 Bolton Wanderers, FA Cup Round 5, A):

Gomes, Corluka, Dawson, King, Bale, Bentley, Palacios, Huddlestone, Modric (Kranjcar 63), Defoe, Crouch

Substitutes: Alnwick, Bassong, Dervite, Rose, Gudjohnsen, Pavlyuchenko

Yellow Cards: Huddlestone, Palacios, Defoe

Goal: Defoe

MARK LAWRENSON'S PREDICTION (BBC):

There are two things Tottenham will have to get over. Firstly, travelling north, where they have struggled to pick up points. Secondly the Wigan pitch, which is in a terrible state.

While Wigan have also complained about the surface, it is actually an advantage to them because they play on it every other week and the opposition do not. Wigan are the enigma of the league, you don't know what you're going to get.

Verdict: Wigan Athletic 2-1 Tottenham Hotspur

PREVIOUS MEETINGS:

Saturday's match will be the 11th meeting between Tottenham Hotspur and Wigan Athletic.

Here are the results of the previous 10 matches with Spurs' score shown first:

2-Nov-2005 FA Prem 22,611 A W 2 - 1 Keane, Davids
19-Feb-06 FA Prem 35,676 H D 2 - 2 Mido, Defoe
25-Nov-06 FA Prem 35,205 H W 3 - 1 Defoe, Berbatov, Lennon
15-Apr-07 FA Prem 16,506 A D 3 - 3 Berbatov, Keane (2, 1pen)
11-Nov-07 FA Prem 35,504 H W 4 - 0 Jenas (2), Lennon, Bent
19-Apr-08 FA Prem 18,673 A D 1 - 1 Berbatov
21-Sep-08 FA Prem 35,808 H D 0 - 0
11-Jan-09 FA Prem 17,500 A L 0 - 1
02-Jan-09 F.A. Cup 3 34,040 H W 3 - 1 Pavlyuchenko (2, 1pen), Modric
22-Nov-09 FA Prem 35,650 H W 9 - 1 Crouch, Defoe (5), Lennon, Bentley, Kranjcar
21-Feb-10 FA Prem A

Full match preview, including match report & images from Tottenham's historic 9-1 win over Wigan earlier this season, available here:

My Football Facts & Stats | Tottenham Hotspur | Match Preview 35

[HeroesComesandGoes]

We'll win this but not by the 9 goals we had at home

[Tottenham-ManU]

lets goo there n win agaaiinn

[jamiendg]

i have a feeling that wigan will give this game everything from the start. they were humiliated and will want blood. if our players are anyway like the first half against bolton then it will not be a prett day. no handballs please.

[THFC6061]

Harry on Wigan:

Harry Redknapp is refusing to believe our 9-1 defeat of Wigan Athletic at the Lane back in November will have any bearing when we meet them at the JJB on Sunday.


The manager accepts such results are ‘freakish' and something his team will not be taking any extra comfort from on the trip to Lancashire.
Harry instead feels both sides would have put that day behind them for different reasons, so it will be back to an even playing field come Sunday.
Speaking at Friday's pre-match press conference, he said: "That was a one-off game. We had a good day and everything went right for us, whereas nothing went right for them. It was a freakish result and they don't happen very often.


"My players won't be complacent. That result was forgotten as soon as the game was over, and we were concentrating on the next game.
"This is a completely different game and it will be a tough one at Wigan because they're a good side. They will be out to get a result the same as every week, not necessarily for revenge."


However, Harry admits he would love us to get back in the habit of scoring goals for fun, as we certainly were that November afternoon.



Although we have conceded just a miserly eight league goals since then, the manager would have been hoping for more than the 13 we have netted at the other end.



But he remains optimistic, adding: "We were having a spell at the time where we were scoring lots of goals and not conceding, but in the last few weeks we've struggled to score as many goals as we were.



"We're still not letting many in but we haven't converted as many of the opportunities as we'd have liked recently, but it will come."

[THFC6061]

WILSON ON WIGAN:


Wilson Palacios admits he is expecting his first visit back to the JJB Stadium since leaving Wigan Athletic to be an emotional occasion.


We travel to Lancashire in the Barclays Premier League on Sunday to visit a club close to the midfielder's heart.



Wilson joined Wigan, initially on loan, in January 2008 and went on to impress during the 39 games he played over the next year before moving to the Lane.



Such was the impact the Latics had on his career that he even concedes feeling a degree of remorse following our 9-1 victory over them back in November.



The Honduran said: "That was a very emotional game for me. I have good friends in the Wigan team and also some fellow countrymen who are like my brothers. We are very close.


"I spoke to them afterwards and they were very down about the result. They knew they had to move on quickly from that day and I wished them well.


"My time at Wigan was a very important part of my career. They treated me so well, I felt great there and I thank them for my opportunity.
"I must admit, it's always hard to play against Wigan because I have so many good memories there."

[kevfball63]

Great work again on the stats mate and Thanx

[USspur]

Surely a must win game if we are to make it into the top 4 this year. Won't be easy but we have a strong enough squad to win it.

[woody]

beat, 2-1, want to know why?, we aint tough enough

team:

gomes, corluka, dawson (c), bassong, bale, bentley, huddlestone, palacios, kranjcar, defoe, crouch

subs:

alnwick, kaboul, k walker, jenas, modric, gudjohnsen, pavlyuchenko

i have picked niko ahead of luka for tactical reasons, niko cuts in a bit more than luka tends to do, thus creating more space on the left for bale to bomb down and get crosses in, crouch to start although if it aint working out at HT bring him off and stick pav on because we need to take our chances here, but i dont think we can handle it, pressure on, city play l'pool, win win for us, but, our story of the season, we cant seize on other teams around us mistakes

crouch to score for us but rodellega and n'zogbia to get theres

[COCKnBALL]

we need all 3 points from this one, as the bindippers play citeh also this weekend

but we will be up against a wigan side hell bent on revenge for that 9-1 defeat

i dont think they will beat us, but i cant see us coming away with all the points

2-2

[Portugeezer]

I'm really looking forward to the match. It will be the first match I go to since 1999, when ginola destroyed Watford!

I think we will win 2-0... I'd love Bale and Bentley to score.

[Pitseleh]

This is gonna be a tough test. We are normally rubbish on our travels up north so i'm expecting more of the same

draw 1-1

[ImTottenhamTillIDie]

Can't see a win coming from this one. Lawro predicts a loss for us, but ill stick with Draw.

FFS, Money City's drawing streak is rubbing off on us, ALSO i hate drawing, it makes me think we play like Villa - WHO I HATE.

[Tottenham-ManU]

i can see us winning i think we'll end our drawin streak DAM we have to!! we have to reach the top four this season, and with out squad i think we should

[DanSpurs80]

Really at a low point with Spurs at the moment. They looked less than inspiring against Bolton and even when we did start to dominate possesion we were flat and unimaginative up front. We desperately need to change it about up top imo as Crouch has been absolutel rubbish the last 4 weeks and JD is being marked out of games as a result. Bring in Pav and actually give Wigan something to think about.
This also backs up my argument that we should have never have got rid of Keane.
Its all gone stale up front and Harry has to shoulder the whole blame.

Draw if we are lucky or a loss if not. Cant see a win though guys especially based on previous results and performances. Oh and Jenas is to get a late fitness test, thats the final nail before we have even kicked a ball!