Wigan Athletic V Hull City Betting: Monday, 3rd May (ESPN)

Wigan Athletic V Hull City

Monday, 3^rd May – 13:30 (GMT)

TV Coverage: ESPN

Wigan Athletic

League Position: 16th

Recent Form: LLDWL

Motive: No

Roberto Martinez, who has had his fair share of critics this season, could guide Wigan to an unbeaten end to the season at The DW should the Latics not lose at home to Hull City at the weekend. Martinez has recently seen his Wigan troopers go three games without a loss at The DW Stadium, and in what has been a frustrating kind of year for Wigan supporters in terms of the inconsistency of their results, the Spanish born manager could end the campaign on a little high note.

The club’s final league fixture at The DW is a home fixture with all but relegated Hull City, so everyone involved with Wigan should be very confident of finishing their home campaign with a final victory. It would be the ideal tonic coming just weeks after their Arsenal heroics, while Wigan fans could at least say they won more games than they lost at home with a win over a hapless Hull.

Wigan’s record at home in the league currently weighs in at 6-6-6, a rather spooky figure, but it’s a figure which underlines their inconsistent nature. However, that memorable win over Arsenal three weeks ago, who at the time were still chasing the league title, means Wigan could end the season with back-to-back wins at The DW – A feat they’ve achieved just once all season. After beating Arsenal and pulling out one of the brilliant and bizarre 10 minutes spells we think we’ve ever seen, Wigan have surely got to fancy their chances against a team which hasn’t won a single away fixture all season.

It’s a shame because Wigan play some decent and attractive football but rarely get the plaudits they deserve until they beat one of the big boys in the division. Wigan have looked on the ropes on more than one occasion, but to Roberto Martinez’s credit he hasn’t abandoned his ambition to get Wigan playing proper on the floor football. Of course, his desire to have Wigan play in a desirable manner hasn’t always paid dividends but when it comes off it looks magnificent and it did so against the Gunners in their last home outing. Against Hull, a team which will give Wigan’s players a lot of time and space on the ball – while Hull always have big gaps at the back – Wigan should enjoy themselves further if they play in the same attacking vein as they aim to end the campaign with a shade of style.

Hull City

League Position: 18th

Recent Form: LLDLL

Motive: No – Relegated

While Hull City may not be officially relegated from the English Premier League, the maths does the rest and unless the last two set of fixtures dramatically go their way, Hull will be relegated. Their fate looks likely to be settled on Saturday anyway as we don’t see them getting an awful lot from this fixture at Wigan Athletic. Iain Dowie will undoubtedly give another one of his useless prep talks claiming this Hull side will fight to the bitter end, but the white flag is now aloft and it’s now time to wave goodbye to the hapless Hull gang.

The Tigers won’t want to quietly go out of the Premiership exit door mind, they’ll want to leave with a bang, perhaps an indication that they just might pop back in a few years time. That doesn’t look too likely though considering the financial state of the club. Several big names – We’ll let you know when we see any of them – will leave the KC during the summer in a bid to reduce the wage bill at the club, while whoever is in charge, and that’s unlikely to be Iain Dowie judging by his poor points return during his poor and yet brief spell as Hull manager, will need to recruit some new Championship blood.

Until then, however, Hull will go out and give it their all in a bid to finish the best of the relegated pack. A laughable objective in reality but that’s the predicament they are in. To be fair, Hull look a shoe in to finish above 19^th placed Burnley as the Clarets are woeful. Even so, it will do the players and the fans a world of good to notch up another win before the Premier League draws to it’s predictable close as both may not be involved in another Premiership fixture for quite some time.

There is also a huge carrot like incentive for Hull City: To avoid going the entire season without an away win. The good news is they have a fairly decent opportunity to end their drought with a visit to Wigan’s DW Stadium. The bad news, Hull are a dreadful away outfit and will do well to pick up a point up in Wigan let alone all three. They did somehow snatch a point from the clutches of Birmingham City in their last away venture when drawing 0-0 at St Andrews, but before that Hull were on a six match losing streak on the road, and the Tigers unfortunately look a good bet to return top losing ways. There will be some dishearten figures in the Hull team on Saturday, sapped of morale and low in spirit and it’s difficult to find a case for Dowie’s pussy-cats, we mean Tigers, as they look set to go the whole season without an away victory.

Match Verdict: Wigan Athletic to WIN – 1.85 SportingBet

We can understand how Wigan Athletic aren’t one of the more reliable teams to back. They’re probably the most unreliable if truth be told, but they really do look a stonking good bet to give Hull City a final spanking before their relegation fate is confirmed. Hull just can’t defend, it’s as simple as that, and until their defensive issues are resolved, which won’t be any time soon, they will continue to concede goals. Wigan are hardly bombproof at the back but they are a decent little attacking force when they want to be, and against a team they know very well they have every chance of beating, we expect a confident display from the Latics, dare we say it, as they look to record their first back-to-back league wins at home since September.

Match Odds

Wigan Athletic – 1.85 SportingBet

Draw – 3.60 Bet365

Hull City – 4.80 VCbet

SoccerBetting Value Pick: Wigan Athletic/Wigan Athletic (HT/FT Betting) – 3.00 bWin