Wednesday 17th April
Manchester City v Wigan 19:45
- Manchester City are on something of a roll at the moment, having now won 4 out of their last fixtures, and dispatching with Man Utd and Chelsea in their last two. They will be looking to sustain any hope of retaining their title when they meet relegation-threatened Wigan this week.
- Controlling the impact of Yaye Toure will be crucial to any success Wigan achieve this weekend, with the Ivorian midfielder looking to be approaching something near his top form after a powerful performance against Chelsea. According to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, Toure has completed a quite staggering 1072 successful passes in the opponent’s half, on average one every 2.33 minutes.
- Wigan are a side more than capable of springing a surprise on anyone on their day, with players like Arouna Kone capable of capitalizing on small mistakes. City captain Vincent Kompany will need to have his concentration at its peak on Wednesday night, but his squad-high 126 defensive contributions suggest he’s more than up to the task.
- The trickery of David Silva may be key to unlocking the Wigan defence for one of his team mates, however the stats suggest that he is close to being the man who gets on the scoresheet himself. The Spanish midfielder has the best shot accuracy rate in the City squad at 70.7% from 41 attempts on goal suggesting he will be looking to add to his four goal tally this week. Silva is 2/1 at 888sport.com to find the back of the net against Wigan.
- Wigan could only reach a 1-1 stalemate in the last Premier League outing against fellow strugglers QPR, Shaun Maloney grabbing a vital goal at the death.
- Whilst City have a vast array of gifted players at their disposal, Wigan have their own playmakers like Shaun Maloney to rely on. The Scottish international boasts some excellent statistics according to the EA SPORTS Player Performance Index, compiling a 713 successful passes in the opposition half, 24 crosses and 6 assists.
- Arouna Kone will likely be the man that Wigan turn to to try and poach a goal against City, the Ivory Coast striker having already racked up numerous important goals for the Lactics this season. Kone has the most attempted shots of any Wigan player with 67, with an accuracy rate of 64.2%. Kone is an industry-best 4/1 with 888sport.com to score at any time against City.
- The ability of Maynor Figueroa to disrupt the opposition from playing freely must be utlilised to full effect should Wigan not wish to find themselves on the end of a heavy defeat at the Etihad. Figueroa has registered an enormous 265 defensive contributions this season and is the only Wigan player in triple figures for tackles attempted with 101.