Chelsea Preview
However the club are now faced with an almighty struggle to maintain Premiership status. Nobody has given the lads a chance this season and narrow-minded idiots have been flooding the messageboard with comments predicting our downfall.
Despite all this negativity surrounding our survival hopes, nobody at the club has been affected and the supporters seem as optimistic as the players.
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“The lads talked about it in the dressing room and we know it’s going to be tougher than anything we’ve previously experienced.”
His midfield team-mate, Graham Kavanagh continued: “I picked up the Sunday papers the other week and they were all predicting we’d finish 20th.
“Fair enough, let them say that, but it’s not them who go out and play the games, we do. We have belief and inner strength, there is a great team spirit here.
“At the end of 38 games we’ll see where we are and hopefully ram a few words down people’s throats.”
Manager Paul Jewell has made some excellent summer signings and there are more expected to join before the transfer window closes on the 31st August.
Of his six signings so far, Stephane Henchoz stands out as a player who could be very important this season. The 30 year old centre back has joined with plenty of footballing pedigree and there are high hopes for his future at the club.
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“I’ve played in it for seven and a half years and I’d really like to play for a few more years if I can. For me, Wigan are a genuine Premiership club. Of course they don’t have the same glamour as other teams maybe, but we will make history if we stay up.”
He is likely to line-up at the back with club captain Matt Jackson, new boy Pascal Chimbonda and young player of the year Leighton Baines. A defence that is equally competent going forward as defending.
The two full-backs love to get forward and have plenty of pace to overlap the wingers in front of them. It would seem that the Latics are not going into the Premiership to defend.
Pascal Chimbonda (below) at right back joined the club this summer from Bastia in the French Ligue 1 for a fee believed to be around £500,000. He is looking forward to the challenge that lies ahead and said: “This is a really exciting move for me. There were other offers put to me but Wigan really impressed me and the opportunity to play in the English Premier League was too good to turn down.
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In midfield, there is a big fight for places. Irish international Graham Kavanagh and Scottish international Lee McCulloch missed the friendly with Boavista after picking up a knocks in the game with Accrington. Alan Mahon and £1.5 million new boy Damien Francis replaced them and both will be pushing for a starting place on Sunday.
Gary Teale has fought off the competition from young Ryan Taylor to claim the right wing berth and showed flashes of what he can do in the game with Boavista.
He said: “We’re under no illusions about the job we face but there’s a lot of excitement about because this is the biggest thing which has happened to most of the players and the club itself.
“We certainly can’t go into the season with any fear, and if we continue working hard, I see no reason why we won’t stay up. It will be difficult, games will be lost, but I’m confident we have what it takes.”
And what did the flying winger think of facing Chelsea? He continued: “Chelsea at home is a great opening fixture, rather different then when we started the season a few years ago away at Cheltenham.
“You could say it’s a daunting prospect, but this is the type of game we’ve worked so hard over the last couple of seasons to play. We want to be playing Chelsea, Manchester United, Arsenal and Liverpool on a regular basis.
“With Chelsea, we’ll be trying to enjoy the game, respect everything that they have done, but we can’t lie down and let them walk all over us. We have to try and get up to their level and just play to the best of our ability.”
Whilst up front could be the most interesting position this season. As promoted clubs in the past have shown, goals are hard to come by after making the step up. Clubs are so desperate for goals in the top flight that Crystal Palace have hung on to Andy Johnson in a bid to get back there, Southampton got £7 million for Peter Crouch and West Ham are playing a 40 year old!
But the Latics have a 45 goal partnership already at the club, and have brought in Senegal international Henri Camara from Wolves for £3 million. Manager Paul Jewell is optimistic that his front two have what it takes to be a success.
He said: “Being a goal threat in the Championship is a different proposition then being a goal threat in the Premiership. But the step up can be made. Andy Johnson played in the Championship and the following season he was in the England squad, so he’s not a bad example.
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Jewell (right) has also commented that losing to Chelsea is hardly going to send the Latics down. It is more likely to be the games against the teams filling the bottom half of the table.
He said: “Staying in this league won’t be about beating the big boys, it will be about taking points off other promoted sides and smaller clubs.
“Of course if I was a pundit, and was asked who would be relegated, I’d have to mention Wigan as a candidate. It would be wrong, though, for people to underestimate us.”
That will be the last thing Chelsea do. They lost just one game last season and in Jose Mourinho the blues not only have a hugely charismatic manager, but a manager who knows what it takes to win football matches.
The 2-1 win over Arsenal in last weeks Community Shield will have done his side no harm in terms of both confidence and fitness ahead of the game at the JJB.
Of Mourinho’s summer signings, Del Horno who joined form Althetico Bilbao is likely to start at left back, whilst England international Shaun Wright-Phillips could have a part to play from the bench.
Frank Lampard in midfield would have to be the one-to-watch. He is the one who makes Chelsea tick. The English stamp on a squad filled with foreign talent. He also managed 16 goals last season and has claimed an England spot ahead of Steven Gerrard.
So, here’s the question. Can the Latics beat, or for that matter draw, with Mourinho’s money men?
Initially the answer has to be no. And should this game be played one hundred times, the Latics would get a result in just a handful of the games. However that gives the Latics a chance.
Can you imagine the papers on Monday morning should Paul Jewell’s men be among the mid-table sides who have one point. We can hope and dream.
Wigan (Probable): Pollitt, Chimbonda, Baines, Jackson, Henchoz, Teale, McCulloch, Kavanagh, Bullard, Roberts, Ellington.
Chelsea (Probable): Cech, Ferreira, Del Horno, Terry, Carvalho, Makelele, Duff, Robben, Lampard, Gudjohnsen, Drogba.
Prediction: Wigan 0 - 2 Chelsea.
Prediction: Wigan 0 - 2 Chelsea.
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Please note that the source of quotes used for this article is the 24 page Kick Off supplement in Monday’s Wigan Evening Post.
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