Wigan at Home!

So, the mythical beast that is the Premier (absolute best, best, bestest) League in the worlds computer has drawn us against Wigan Athletic at home on the opening day of the 2009/2010 season.

Firstly, I must say that the 2009/2010 bit makes me feel very old indeed. I can still vividly recall Manchester United on the opening day of the 1995/1996 season, the game where we won 3-1 and Alan Hansen famously warned Alex Ferguson he would “win nothing with kids.” So for it to now be the cosmically sounding 2009/2010 season, well I can’t help but feel a tad disappointed. If you had asked my younger self on that gloriously, sunny opening day in 1995 what the 2009 season would hold, I would have probably told you that it would be me and not Gabriel Agbonlahor who would be starting up-front for Villa. I would have also probably told you that we would all travel to the game on hover boards too thanks to my love of Back to the Future 2 and my obsession with the Transformers movie had led to me to believe that by 2010 mankind would be no more and gigantic robots would be racing around the rings of Saturn. So it is somewhat depressing then that on the opening day of the 2009/2010 season Villa will be playing Wigan Athletic minus the hover boards and warring robots, but, with a side order of Emile Heskey.

Wigan at home is a relatively generous fixture for us, yes they have had a relatively good time under Steve Bruce and Paul Jewell but they are one of those mid-table sides, who will occasionally over-achieve but more often than not are just happy to survive in the Premier League for another year. This has been reflected in their transfer policy over the last few years and was also a major factor for Bruce when Sunderland and their millions came calling. This brings me on to their new manager, the suave Spanirard Roberto Martinez who has built up quite a repuatation having had a very successful spell as Swansea manager. Martinez has declared recently that he wants Wigan to challenge for a European place next year and I expect he will be given a modest budget to work with by David Whelan. Much of Wigan’s success under Bruce came from his ability to spot the odd foreign gem and if Martinez is to make them a top-half force he will need to adopt a similar strategy. However, it will take him time to mould the Wigan side into the way he wants them to play and I think he may initially struggle in the Premier League.

As for our side, well who knows who we will have in our squad come August? The usual suspects: Upson, Jenas, Huddlestone, Bentley, Owen and Wheater have all been linked but as O’Neill keeps his cards so close to his chest I couldn’t speculate on who we will see come through the doors of Villa Park. I would hope to see a centre-back come in to replace Laursen, but you never know with O’Neill, you never know….. I don’t know who out of the current squad will be staying at Villa Park next year either. The likes of: Sidwell, Reo-Coker, Shorey, Gardner and Knight will surely be looking for more game time next season and then we have recently seen tabloid speculation that Carew and Ashley Young may be moving on. With regards to Carew and Ashley I think the tabloid reports are utter rubbish and a prime example of cockney media bias. However, the futures of Sidwell, Reo-Coker…etc are very much in the air, I would like them all to stay as we need a bigger squad next term. But, I cannot imagine O’Neill keeping unhappy players just to make up the numbers so we will have to wait and see…

Wigan Athletic at Villa Park was the first ever Aston Villa game I attended, it was in 1994 and in the League Cup third round. Villa were defending the trophy they had won that March at the time and Wigan were bottom of Division 3. We beat them 5-0 thanks largely to the superb performance of Nii “the next Pele” Lampety. I was only 10 at the time and I imagined 5-0 victories and African wizardry were the norm at Villa Park. So, it is quite surprising to learn that Villa haven’t actually beaten Wigan at Villa Park since that evening in 1994. This is largely due to the fact that we haven’t played them a great deal since then, but it is a fact all the same. Wigan were promoted in 2005 and in the four years since they have been in the Premier League at Villa Park we lost 2-0 in the 2005/2006 season, drew 1-1 in the 2006/2007, lost 2-0 in the 2007/2008 and drew 0-0 in the 2008/2009 season. So, since 2005 we have conceded five times against them at Villa Park and only scored once, which all in all, makes for pretty depressing reading. Our record at their place reads much better, but as next season one our of our key aims has to be to address our dreadful home form, I don’t think it would be too much to ask if we could start by beating Wigan at home!

Up the Villa

Mike