Portsmouth Vs Wigan Athletic Betting – Saturday 31st October

 

Portsmouth V Wigan Athletic

 

Kick-off: Saturday 31st October – 15:00 GMT

Venue: Fratton Park

 

 

 

Portsmouth

 

League Position: 20th

Recent Form: LLWLD

  

Portsmouth manager, Paul Hart, will be hoping his sides midweek Carling Cup success will be the catalyst for bigger and better things back in their bread n’ butter, the Premiership. The Southerners find themselves in a sticky situation at the moment, rooted to the very bottom of the league with just four three points to their name. However, Portsmouth are finally starting to chip in with a few points here and there so it does appear as though the club could already be on their road to recovery as far as getting enough points on the board to avoid the dreaded drop, or at least put up a fight.

  

Portsmouth dished out an old fashioned spanking on Tuesday night to a fellow Premiership compatriot in Stoke City. On the night Portsmouth were by far the better side, especially in attack, an area where Portsmouth have been especially weak in this season. Pompey, unfortunately, boast the worst offensive record in the league scoring just five goals in ten games. However, three of those have come at home so there is a tiny positive from what is a dire statistic. The emphatic win over Stoke could set them up nicely though as the four goals they did score should provide the Portsmouth strikers with bags of confidence as they have clearly been lacking some of that in recent weeks.

  

Portsmouth contested one of the dullest contests of all time last Saturday when they drew 0-0 with Hull City. That game won’t live long in the memory but Paul Hart will still be pleased with the point his side earned. That’s now four points picked up in as many games for Portsmouth and they have a very good opportunity to bolster their meagre point tally this Saturday. However, to do that they simply have to take their chances and there will be a fair few. Portsmouth don’t have any problems creating chances but it’s converting them which has been a grey area for Pompey this season. The main bulk of the chances seem to fall to Aruna Dindane who, more times then not, fluffs them. He is obviously a striker lacking in inner confidence and that won’t change until he registers his first strike in Portsmouth shirt.

  

Backing Portsmouth will be a precarious bet in our opinion. They will create a handful of decent goalscoring chances but actually putting them away is still an art Portsmouth have yet to master. Maybe their 4-0 mauling of Stoke in midweek was what the doctor ordered but we need to see more attacking vigour from Pompey before we throw our money away on them. We mustn’t forget that Portsmouth are without a win at home this season, losing all five of their home fixtures thus far.

 

 

 

Wigan Athletic

 

League Position: 10th

Recent Form: LWLDW

 

Wigan have crept into the top ten after their hard-earned victory at Turf Moor, the home of Burnley, last Saturday. The players should be very proud of their achievement as it may have been just a victory over one of the three newly promoted teams at first glance but they did get the better of a side that had previously boasted a 100% record at home. Wigan claimed the honour of not only being the first side to take any points away from Turf Moor but also the first team to actually beat Burnley at Turf Moor.

  

We say this week in week out but Wigan are your basic Jekyll & Hyde sort of side. One week they can put in a stunning shift and play some very nifty football, combined with a sweet end product, while the next they can be found wanting against lesser opposition. It’s rather strange to say that Portsmouth are a ‘lesser’ side then Burnley but, based on their league position anyway, they are. Pompey are one of just two sides in the league not to have won at home, in fact, Portsmouth have yet to register a single point at Fratton Park this season so it would be typical that Wigan fail to show up after another battling performance.

  

There is a familiar pattern forming whenever Wigan do win a game of football. Before they beat Burnley at the weekend, Wigan had previously won three matches in the league. Now, i wonder if you can guess how they followed those victories up? Yes, indeed, with defeats. Each time Wigan have won in the league this season they have gone on to lose their very next fixture. Wins over Aston Villa, West Ham & even Chelsea were followed with defeats by Wolves, Arsenal & Hull City. Two of which were sides Wigan should have beaten and they find themselves in the same sort of predicament here where they will be the favourites to claim all the spoils after surprising most people the previous week.

  

It’s evident that Wigan have got consistency issues and, as of yet, Roberto Martinez hasn’t fixed the problem. However, a trip to Portsmouth against a side who haven’t picked up a single point at home this season does represent a fabulous opportunity for them to string a pair of result together. Were they to win then it would be their first back-to-back wins of the season, a big feat it would seem for Wigan were they to achieve it.

 

 

 

Head-to-Head (Last 10):

 

Portsmouth W: 4 Wigan Athletic W: 4 Draws: 0

 

 

It’s honours even as far as this contest is concerned. Both sides have recorded two victories at home and away so predicting the outcome in this clash could be somewhat of a lottery. However, Wigan did complete a league double over Pompey last term, beating Portsmouth 1-0 at The DW stadium and 2-1 at Fratton Park. Will Portsmouth return the favour this season and give Wigan a double spanking of their own?

 

 

Goals haven’t been a too familiar characteristic in previous meetings with just one of the last four games featuring three of more goals, although, that was the most recent clash at Fratton Park, Wigan winning 2-1.

 

 

 

 

Match Verdict:- Draw – 3.40 SkyBet

 

Wigan’s inconsistent nature should see them come a cropper once again but this time in the form of a draw. Portsmouth are showing huge sings of improvements in the last month or so and this does look a great chance for them to register their first points at home this season. Fratton Park was braced with four goals on Tuesday night and the Pompey fans will be hoping their strikers can find their shooting boots again on Saturday but against a resilient Wigan side, we fancy Portsmouth to bang away in vein, once more. Both sides wouldn’t begrudge a draw, either.

 

 

 

Match Odds:

 

Portsmouth – 2.50 Boylesports

 

Draw – 3.40 SkyBet

 

Wigan Athletic – 3.00 Bet365

 

 

 

 

SoccerBetting Value Tip: 1-1 Correct Score – 6/1 BlueSquare

 

 

 Update: The result of Portsmouth vs Wigan was 4-0 (goals by Dindane (3), Piquionne)