Everton V Wigan Preview

Wigan travel to Goodison Park to try and regain some of their pride after some disappointing performances. The Latics were unlucky against Wolves and the 5-0 scoreline was not a fair reflection against Manchester United. For me, it was just a Manchester United fanfare and Wigan just got caught up in the middle of it, but then again, I was thinking false hopes.

Blackpool, well, should be a distant memory as we played a reserve team in many respects and many of the players were out of sorts, but Martinez won’t allow this to drop and I do think in time he’ll get the players to perform – the doom and gloom cannot last forever and whatever league the Latics play in, I am Latics through and through.

One thing is unmistakable. Everton are hurting after a horrifying defeat to Arsenal and a disappointing defeat to new boys Burnley, but all credit to Burnley who are taking this league by storm so far but how long can it last? Hmmm…

Everton may have Distin playing for them on Sunday and he’ll be a huge difference to Everton who lost Joleon Lescott to Everton. For me, he’s no Lescott but a good player all the same and he’ll be eager to make an impression on the first game. However, gelling takes time and a new player will mean that Everton may need to experiment before they find their best formation.

A lot of questions have been raised about the suitability of Martinez as Latics boss. After a terrific away win at Aston Villa, poor performances followed and some are already baying for blood. We were never expected to get anything from Man Utd. In retrospect, the only disappointing thing is we never got anything in the game against Wolverhampton. Whilst the Wolves game was disappointing, we got an away win at Villa so teams will pick up points where they don’t expect to and lose to teams they don’t expect to.

Martinez needs to give his players a bit of self belief ahead of this game and the Latics want to regain some credit as do Everton, who will want to actually start their season with three points on the board.

Goodison is not a happy hunting ground for the Latics. One win, one draw and two losses is not great but there is hope we can cause more problems for Moyes’ Boys and they might be distracted by the loss of Joleon Lescott to Man City.

ROB’S PREDICTION
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I think that the Latics’ fans will suffer another disappointment at Goodison as the Toffees will see this as an opportunity for three points in the bag. I do think that Martinez will rally the players so they can try and bring some pride back to the fans and themselves and give Everton a game but I suspect that Everton will nick this by a single goal and start their season off.

Everton 1 Wigan 0

ROB’S FINAL THOUGHTS
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After two games I’ll be keen not to watch, maybe afterward the Latics can finally get their season back on track but there could be a surprise at Everton – one never knows. A result against West Ham would be ever so good for the team so that will be a game Martinez will target as a good start to get the season going for the Latics.