Wigan Athletic V Sunderland Betting – Saturday 28th November

Wigan Athletic V Sunderland

Kick-off: Saturday 28th November – 15:00 GMT

Venue: The DW Stadium

Wigan Athletic

League Position: 15th

Recent Form: DWLDL

It’s surely got to have been a difficult week for the Wigan gaffer – Roberto Martinez? How does any group of players fully recover and digest such a spanking as the one they received last Sunday away at Tottenham Hotspur. Although this probably won’t be the highlight game with too many neutrals, we feel this will be an interesting fixture as we’re keen to see how Wigan respond after that humiliating result, and how Sunderland fare because they will know Wigan will have been seriously wounded and are certainly there for the taking now after that shoddy display at White Hart Lane.

To be completely honest, we don’t think we’ve seen too many dreadful team performances like the Wigan one on Sunday. They were awful, dreadful, dire and pathetic – all rolled into one nasty ball of dreadfulness. Midfield – Dormant, Defence – laughable, Goalkeeper – Actually pretty good, and that’s where the giggles begin. The best player on the park for Wigan was their goalie, a player who conceded a mammoth nine goals. However, he wasn’t to blame but more his woeful and lacklustre defence was. I don’t think I’ve ever seen so many loose passes going astray from a defensive unit, or their lazy attitude towards closing players down. It was quite literally like they couldn’t be bothered, and that they were happy to receive their match appearance cheque and be gone with it – Awful! 

After such a resounding result, not many will touch Wigan this weekend with a barge pole. However, we mustn’t forget that they’re facing a Sunderland side who have recently claimed the scalp of another ‘Big Four’ side in Arsenal, a fine result but one they have epically failed to emulate the weekend after against the smaller fish. After Wigan’s 9-1 annihilation on Sunday, we think it’s safe to say that Wigan can now officially be classed as one of the leagues ‘smaller fish’, but that could play into their hands against a Sunderland side who do have ‘cocky’ tendencies it would seem. 

If Wigan are to repay their fans for their support last weekend, not just in a complete, deserved refund, then they will need to work a whole lot harder then they did at White Hart Lane. Their midfield needs to actually keep hold of the ball for a sustained period of time, while their defence needs to learn the art of closing down and jockeying. However, at home is where Wigan usually lick their battle wounds and generally come up trumps after a wicked defeat. Of the four away defeats gone before, Wigan have yet to be beaten in a corresponding home fixture, winning two and drawing two, straight off the back of away defeats. What’s more intriguing, some have even been against good sides – Chelsea (3-1), Man City (1-1) & a tough Fulham (1-1).

Sunderland

League Position: 8th

Recent Form: WLDLW

Sunderland aren’t too dissimilar to Wigan in actual fact, in regards to whenever they do win a game they do tend to follow it up with a strange and bizarre result and performance. However, Black Cats followers will be praying this isn’t the case on Saturday as win could potential see them rise several place into the top six, an amazing feat for a club that barely clung onto their Premiership status last season. The improvements within the club are evident but there is still one terrible characteristics Sunderland will need to erase from their play before any of us can get too excited – Inconsistency! 

We feel sorry for you Sunderland fans at times, although not too much as we’re Liverpool fans and they aren’t much ‘Kop’ right now, either. However, back to Sunderland and summing up their annoying inconsistent nature. So far this season, Sunderland have won six games, five of which have come at home, which does mean their away record is very poor. 1-1-4 is how their away record looks thus far, with the one victory coming at Bolton on the opening day of the season, while they did earn a very respectable draw at Manchester United.

However, this is where all Sunderland should cower for cover. Sunderland’s weekend victory over the Gunners, Arsenal, was a sensational result and another result they can stick in their soon to be award winning dairy. However, the bad news is what generally follows thereafter. Sunderland are unbeaten at home in six outings, a very good run of results, five of which have been wins but immediately after winning at home, Sunderland have been asked to repeat the same in an away fixture and have failed miserably on each occasion. Of the five home wins thus far, three have been followed by an away defeat. If you disregard their weekend result against Arsenal, only once have Sunderland not fallen to an away defeat straight after a home success, that being a 2-2 draw at Old Trafford with Man Utd.

Steve Bruce has already pinpointed Sunderland’s bizarre inconsistency levels but he can’t quite put his finger on where it’s all going wrong. Well, there is certainly something spoiling the Sunderland cake as the Black Cats have lost on their last two away outings, falling to defeats at Birmingham City (1-0) and Tottenham Hotspur (2-0), failing to score a goal in both. Sunderland have actually failed to score in 50% of their away matches so far so perhaps it’s their attackers which are letting them down when playing on the road, although, Darren Bent has already netted nine goals this season. With three of those coming in away outings.

Head-to-Head (Last 10):

Wigan Athletic W: 3 Sunderland W: 1 Draws: 2

In the three consecutive seasons Wigan have been in the Premiership, they have boasted an unbeaten home record against the Black Cats, winning two and drawing one. However, the last encounter at The DW finished in a share of the spoils when the pair played out a 1-1 draw. Wigan did, however, win the previous two at The DW before that draw, both aided by clean sheets – 3-0 & 1-0.

Match Verdict:- Sunderland to WIN – 2.90 Bet365

The amount of times we’ve backed Sunderland straight after an immense home performance and result is beyond us but we’re going to plug on and keep the faith by backing them to do the business for the very first time on their travels this season. We wouldn’t touch Wigan if PaddyPower themselves begged us to gamble their own cash away. The Latic’s put in the worst performance from a Premiership club that I’ve seen for some time, perhaps even at the level of Derby County a few seasons back – Yes, that bad! Sunderland, however, have now been installed with battling qualities under Steve Bruce, while their forward play is getting them goal, unfortunately not too many have come on their travels of late. Nevertheless, against a team that conceded nine last weekend, Darren Bent should have a more enjoyable time on the road this time around and we fancy Sunderland, at decent odds we must say, to comply for the first time this season, away from home that is.

Match Odds:

Wigan Athletic – 2.50 Boylesports

Draw – 3.50 Coral

Sunderland – 2.90 Bet365

SoccerBetting Value Tip: Darren Bent Anytime Goalscorer – 2.63 Boylesports