Wigan v Man City: Latics to make City work for victory
Published:Manchester City’s dire goalless draw against Chelsea last weekend saw them fall behind rivals United in the title race – and they will have a tough job not to fall further behind against Wigan this Wednesday.
Roberto Mancini’s men head into the game as big 8/15 favourites to pick up all three points but, while they should be able to manage that, their recent performances and results at the DW Stadium suggest things may be tighter than they first appear.
In their last four visits to Wigan, City have won two, drawn one and lost one, with their last trip there yielding a laboured 1-0 victory thanks to Eden Dzeko’s first half strike.
City have yet to show much in the way of scintillating football this season but they have ground out results in a manner that, if it was cross-city rivals United, would have seen them lauded as experts in winning without playing well – an apparently key attribute for any title winner to have.
With that in mind, a victory looks a little beyond Wigan at 5/1 – especially considering City remain undefeated. Mancini’s men have drawn four of their six away games this term so a speculative bet on another draw at 3/1 may be worth consideration.
The smart money is on a City win though – mainly because of the Latics dire defensive home record.
They have shipped exactly two goals in all bar one of their home Premier League games this season (a 2-1 victory over West Ham), giving them the second worst home defence in the English top tier.
If you can see City finally taking Wigan to task, then over 2.5 goals for the Citizens can be backed at 13/8, while a win to nil is a pretty decent 7/4.
All odds and markets accurate as of publication’s time and date
