Wigan V Aston Villa

Wigan suffered an embarrassing 4-0 defeat to Bolton Wanderers on Saturday. I say embarrassing because Bolton are not exactly what you call prolific in front of goal which must raise questions about our defence or perhaps a more positive attitude away from home?

Nevertheless, Birmingham's second Premier League club, Aston Villa, managed by Martin O'Neill, come calling at the DW Stadium and they need some ammunition in order to climb up the Barclays Premier League. They'll see this game as the perfect tonic but O'Neill has never won a top flight game in the month of March but also, Wigan can not boast many home victories over Aston Villa, either. Its strange that Wigan struggle against Villa on their own turf and Villa struggle against Wigan on theirs. A bit of hoodoo, I think.

Anyways, Wigan will welcome back Ivanhoe in what is sure to be an exciting reunion and I hope Emile will salute his old club upon his return, but someone wanting to knock the stuffing out of Heskey will be Hugo Rodallega. When Rodallega scores, the Latics never lose. Lets hope he scores tonight against Villa, then follows up that with a goal against Burnley, or quite a few would be nice as well.

Wigan have no major injury concerns so lets hope that Martinez's wish comes true and that Wigan can emulate their success over the Liverpudlians just over a week ago.

ROB'S PREDICTION
================

Tough one to call because Martin O'Neill has never won a Premier League gane in the month of March. However, they are a fantastic footballing side and I'm sure Martin will recruit in the summer to try and turn his side into a Champions League capable outfit if they are not that already, of course. In contrast, Roberto Martinez's side need the points to shift clear of the relegation zone and a win tonight would really put daylight between Wigan and the bottom three.

Wigan 1 Aston Villa 1

ROB'S FINAL THOUGHT
===================

Jeff Stelling said the canaries would sing. Unfortunately they did and Huddersfield's hopes of reaching the play offs now are looking bleak.

For Wigan, the win tonight would put some massive daylight between them and the bottom three. One.. two.. three..

UP THE LATICS!!!!

Click here to join in the debate on the club forum.