Lawro Predicts - Villa v Latics

Mark Lawrenson has done his usual round of forecasting the upcoming Premier League results, of course the Latics travel to Aston Villa this Saturday, lets take a look at how Preston's finest sees this one:

Aston Villa v Wigan

It is very difficult to know where Aston Villa go now after their last two results - their 4-0 defeat by Tottenham on Boxing Day could quite easily have been by the same scoreline as their 8-0 thrashing at Chelsea.

I have said all season that because Villa are a young side they will be inconsistent, with lots of highs and lows but those games were not just a blip.

They are in a mess and they need any sort of positive result against Wigan.

Wigan are on an awful run at the moment themselves, although they have had a couple of bad decisions go against them of late - they should have had a penalty against Everton last time out and they certainly did not play badly in their defeat at Goodison Park.

The Latics will turn it round, because they always do. The thing about Wigan which puts them in a different situation to Villa is that they have been here so many times before - and nobody is panicking.

They will be thinking that, the state Villa are in, they can go and maybe nick a win. From Villa's point of view I think this is a game they cannot afford to lose, which is a big thing to say with us being only halfway through the season.

But confidence-wise, Lambert's side look shattered already and being beaten by a team below them would make things even worse.

Prediction: 1-1

I hate to say this but I am with Lawro here, 1-1 for me too

To see all Lawro's weekend predictions visit www.bbc.co.uk/lawros-punts


The latest edition of the PWU Wigan Athletic podcast is now available for download. In this the last recording of the year the panel is decimated by man flu, luckily Barry, Dan and Paul are on hand to carry the flag.

The podcast is longer than usual but with a lot of content to get through that isn't surprising. There are the Arsenal and Everton reviews, dodgy ref decisions and missed opportunities. Next up is the Aston Villa preview, now this is a big game. We follow the Villa preview with looking ahead to the local derby on New Year's Day against Manchester United, we all know this game is their cup final. A nostalgic look back at 2012 brings this week's podcast to a conclusion

If you would like to get involved in the podcast or have any topics that you'd like to be discussed please get in touch at wigan@vitalfootball.co.uk marking your email PWU Podcast

The podcast can be downloaded from itunes or via our hosting site www.buzzsprout.com or by simply hitting the play button on the embedded player below

All the PWU Podcast team would like to wish you all a Happy New Year and thank you so very much for your support on this project






















Latics and Proud



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