OPPONENTS: Wigan Athletic Football Club (not Liverpool, Paul)
MANAGER: Paul Cook (but you already knew that)
NICKNAME: The Latics
LEAGUE POSITION: 1st
THE JOURNEY: Fratton Park to DW Stadium – 500 mile round trip – about 4 and a half hours each way.
LAST TIME OUT:
* Pompey came from behind to earn a point in a less than stellar performance against Walsall last Saturday. Pitman scored the equaliser from the spot after Kabamba was fouled.
* Wigan remain one of the 4 teams with a 100% record after a 2-0 win away to Oldham thanks to early goals from Ivan Toney and Michael Jacobs. They also had a midweek cup game where they bowed out after losing 4-1 at Aston Villa – Paul Cook made 11 changes for this match.
POMPEY STATS:
* Pompey have made an indifferent start to League One football with a win, a loss and a draw (in that order)
* Of Pompey’s 4 goals in all competitions (not including FLT), Brett Pitman is the only Blue to find the net, with the other goal being an own goal.
* Pompey have taken the third lowest amount of shots on target in the League this season (8).
* They also have the third lowest amount of shots on target taken against us, again just 8.
* Top Scorer: Pitman (3)
WIGAN STATS:
* Wigan had a poor campaign last year in the Championship, spending nearly the entire season in the bottom 3 and picking up just 10 wins, 12 draws and 24 losses.
* Since taking the helm, Paul Cook has picked up 3 victories in this 3 league games, scoring 7 goals and only conceding once.
* Despite having one of the biggest stadiums in the league (holding over 25,000), the Latics only managed to draw a crowd of 9,159 for their ‘dawning of a new era’ match against Bury, meaning 64% of the seats at the DW Stadium were empty for their opening league game.
* With Wigan Warriors competing at Wembley in the Challenge Cup final on Saturday, expect a very quiet home contingent as those not at the match will either be at home watching or listening on the wireless.
* Top Scorers: Nick Powell (3) Michael Jacobs (2) Ivan Toney/Lee Evans (1)
HEAD TO HEAD (Courtesy of Pompeyrama.com):
* Pompey hold a winning record over the Latics, having won 9 of the 17 previous meetings. Wigan have won 5 and 3 have ended all square.
* The two teams spent 5 years in the Premier League together and of those 10 meetings Pompey have won 5, drew 1 and lost 4.
* The last time these two sides met in 2010 the game finished goalless. The reverse fixture at Fratton Park saw Pompey rack up their biggest win of the season, winning 4-0 thanks to a hat-trick from Aruna Dindane and a goal from Frederic Piquionne.
PLAYED FOR US/PLAYED FOR THEM/SCUMMER WATCH
* Noel Hunt: The former Republic of Ireland international struggled to hold down a starting place at Fratton Park last season, and a few injuries saw his season come to a premature end. He made 26 appearances in all competitions, mainly from the bench, and only found the net once.
ONE TO WATCH:
* Nick Powell: Going for a midfielder this week, although Ivan Toney and Will Grigg provide the biggest threat up top, many of you will remember the name Nick Powell. At just 18 years old he was signed by Manchester United from Crewe for a fee of £6m. He made a handful of Premier League starts for the Red Devils but spent most of his time out on loan, including a season at Wigan in 2013/14. The Latics signed him permanently last year and he has become a goalscoring force from midfield, netting 21 times in his two spells at Wigan (66 games). He has 3 in 3 so far this season and will have to be watched carefully.
PREDICTION:
* Optimism is low at the moment. The first 3 games have been a wake up call that, coupled with an injury crisis, Pompey aren’t going to dominate games like we did at stages last season. Wigan are on a temporary high that you get when you hire a new manager (Cook only lost once in his first 15 games with us), and if you offered me a point right now I’d snatch it with both hands. As I refuse to give them the satisfaction of predicting a loss, I will go for a 0-0 draw, with both teams hitting the woodwork in the last 15 minutes.
NEXT 5 GAMES:
Sun 3rd Sep – Rotherham (H) – League One
Sat 9th Sep – Wimbledon (A) – League One
Tue 12th Sep – Northampton (A) – League One
Sat 16th Sep – Fleetwood (H) – League One
Sat 23rd Sep – Scunthorpe (A) – League One
PUP
Written by PompeyFrippy and originally posted in the forum.
Follow @VitalPortsmouth.
2017-18 Prediction League – August
Wigan (a) – Saturday 26th August 2017 – click here.
2017-18 Prediction League – September
Rotherham (h) – Sunday 3rd September 2017 – click here.
Wimbledon (a) – Saturday 9th September 2017 – click here.
Northampton (a) – Tuesday 12th September 2017 – click here.
Fleetwood (h) – Saturday 16th September 2017 – click here.
Scunthorpe (a) – Saturday 23rd September 2017 – click here.
Bristol Rovers (h) – Tuesday 26th September 2017 – click here.
Oldham (h) – Saturday 30th September 2017 – click here.
