The opening match for the Latics saw them lose to West Ham by a margein of 2 goals to 1.West Ham got off the a very quick start with a brilliant touch and finish from Dean Ashton to put West ham 1-nil up.The Latics then conceded another goal 7 minutes later when they failed to pick up their men from a corner which resulted in a second goal for Dean Ashton.The Latics then tried to respond quickly as Carlton Cole prevented the ball from crossing the line with a great goal line clearence.But after that West ham had more of the ball and the Latics did not create much going forward and it was a dissapointing first half for the Latics.The two teams went in at the interval with West ham leading 2-0.

The second half however was a completely different story as the Latics came out looking for a goal straight from kick off and thats exactly what they got. Barely 2 minutes into the second half,a long throw from Maynor Figueroa was flicked into the danger area by Emile Heskey and it then fell to the Egyptian Amr Zaki who took it first time and unleashed astunning volley into the net.The Latics were now back in the game and applied lots of presure on a nervous looking West Ham side.Palacios began to run the game from the center of midfield ,orchestrating attack after attack.Zaki then had 3 good chances which he failed to convert.Despite the constant pressure on the West Ham defence the Latics ended a very good second half display without the goal they needed to win them a point.

Next Week we welcome Chelsea to the JJB 

Player Ratings

Kirkland-Good solid game.Should be dissapointed at conceding 2 goals however. Rating -6

Melchiot -Solid at the back as always,however didnt do much going forward and failed to pick up Ashton for the second goal.Rating -5

Figueroa-Pretty good game.He had more than half a dozen attempts from distance out of which none of them found the target Rating -6

Scharner-He didnt look very comfortable against Ashton and was still nursing a an ankle injury.Rating-5

Boyce-Good game for him .Carrying on his good form from last seasn.Rating-6

Valencia- Looked very threatening down the right hand side and made Lucas Neill work his socks off. Rating-6

Palacios-Was the heart and soul of the team in the second half -winning balls,good passing and a good attempt at goal as well,good game for him.Rating-8

Cattermole-Seemed up for the challenge and put in a few great takcles.Cattermole and Palcios controlled the midfield during the second half.Rating-7

Kapo-Looked good at times but didnt really play to his full potential.Could have done better from a freekick he had in great position.Rating-6

Zaki-Great debut for the Egyptian.He showed enthusiasm,pace,strength and wanted the ball always.He grabbed a goal for himself with a great volley.Rating-7

Heskey-Lead the line extremely well and showed everyone why he deserves and England call up. Rating-7

Wigan head into this match on good form from the pre season beating Hibernian and  FC Utercht last week

West Ham are in decent form. They drew with Villareal and beat Ipswich 5-3 at Portman Road

West Ham head into the mathc with great pressure on manager Alan Curbishley even though the season has not started yet.The West Ham board have blamed Curbishley for the saga which saw Freddie Ljunberg walking away from Upton Park with a pay off of 6 million pounds. The tension between the board and Curbishley has only increased over the past week. Curbishley is now favourite in the sack race for Premiership managers.To add to his worries Curbishley has a long injury list in front of him with the likes of Danny Gabiddon,James Tompkins,Kieron Dyer,Craig Bellamy,James Collins and George McCartney all out.

Wigan on the other hand have no such problems.However Erik Edman is still recovering from a ligament injury while Paul Scharner and Ryan Taylor are doubtful for the match.New signing Amr Zaki is likely to make his league debut on Saturday.Steve Bruce has much of his squad available and it will be inresting to see who he puts out in the starting 11.

Match Prediction

Its a difficult one ,but i see the Latics just getting an away win.However if the West Ham players come out and show support to their under fire manger then it could go the other way .

Away win 1-0 

In other news,Hull have snapped up Marlon King from Wigan on a one year loan deal while Wigan assistant manager,Eric Black yesterday said that the Latics summer spending may not be over just yet and that they were still looking at some targets

The new season is almost here. The weekend we have all been waiting is almost upon us. Everyone wants to see their new players in action and some want to see  old faces make a brand new impression. Whichever club you support i'm sure your exited and waiting for the start of a new season and a chance for your club to acheive glory.

I am personally very exited to see the new Wigan squad in action. Im sure this season, we wont be fighting for our survival come the end of the season. Over the summer ,Steve Bruce got the chance to lay his imprint on the squad and i think he did all he could with the money in his hand. He admitted to being happy with the squad after signing Amr Zaki,who he has been chasing the whole summer.From whatever i've seen of Zaki i must say that he's got it in him to be a very successful Premiership player. He looks very strong and i don't think he'll have a problem adapting to the physical side of the premierhsip.I dont think Zaki will score freely in the beginning but come January he'll be one to watch out for in your fantasy team selections. Bruce's other three signings-Cattermole,Kapo and De Ridder all look good. Cattermole has had Premiership experience at Boro and he is certainly a player to watch out for.Kapo and De Ridder didnt play much for Birmingham at the end of the season but when the season started they really impressed me with dribbling and they way they ran at defenders.

Well at least football is back.I hope everyone enjoys the Community Shield on sunday.I speak for all neutrals by saying that i hope Man Utd and Portsmouth play some good , end to end stuff