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本帖最后由 tld128 于 2013-1-1 22:24 编辑
Wigan boss Roberto Martinez may stick with the same XI that beat Aston Villa away from home.
Antolin Alcaraz, Albert Crusat, Antonio Lopez, Ryo Miyaichi and Ben Watson are again absent.
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson has said he will make changes to the side that beat West Brom.
Top scorer Robin van Persie is expected to come back into the starting line-up, and defenders Rafael and Phil Jones are fit again.
MATCH PREVIEW
The course of last season's title race and relegation battle were altered at the DW Stadium last April. Manchester United were top by eight points and Wigan were second bottom. Deservedly, United were beaten and the immediate destiny of both clubs changed.
Sir Alex Ferguson is well aware that if, as happened last season, an eight-point lead can be overturned in six matches, then a seven-point lead can certainly be overturned in five months. Talk of a title procession has been premature.
“The game on Tuesday at Wigan is going to be a difficult game away from home, I'll get a few players I'll freshen up with”
Manchester United boss Sir Alex Ferguson
It's always the same at the bottom too. So long as a club is in range of the rest in April there is hope. Wigan are masters at that.
I remember seeing Dave Whelan and Sir Alex embracing in the tunnel after that game last season. Fergie assured the Wigan owner that his club was surely staying up, Whelan assured Fergie that United would surely still win the title. Only one of them was right.
Whelan is five years Fergie's senior and pretty much the elder statesman of the Premier League. His relationship with Roberto Martinez is probably the biggest reason for Wigan's remarkable ability to beat the odds and the drop year after year.
New Year's Eve is Ferguson's birthday. His energy and desire are affirmation of a quotation I found from a 19th century American professor and poet Oliver Wendall Holmes who said: "Men do not quit playing because they grow old; they grow old because they quit playing."
My attempt to sound clever by trawling through the internet also revealed that Swede Oscar Swahn was 72 when he won a silver medal at the 1920 Olympics (for shooting deer), that Claude Monet only began painting water lilies at the age of 76, that Winston Churchill was 77 when he was elected Prime Minister for the second time and that Benjamin Franklin was 81 when he helped to write the American Constitution.
Fergie is only 71. He's just beginning!
MATCH FACTS
Head-to-head
•Wigan beat Manchester United for the first time in their history at the DW Stadium last April thanks to a goal from Shaun Maloney.
•It was the only goal they had scored against the Red Devils in their last seven matches. In fact, they have scored just five goals in their 16 encounters with Manchester United, who have scored 50 in those games.
•There has never been a draw between the sides.
Wigan
•Wigan ended a six-game winless run in the Premier League with a 3-0 victory over Aston Villa, keeping only their third clean sheet of the season.
•They have now picked up as many points away from home (nine) this season as they have at the DW Stadium.
•They have won just once at home since 27 October.
•The Latics have conceded the opening goal in 13 Premier League games this season, losing 12 of those matches.
Manchester United
•Against West Brom, Manchester United kept only their fourth clean sheet of the season and only their second in their last 13 league games.
•Robin van Persie has scored 62 goals in his last 75 Premier League appearances since January 2011.
•Sir Alex Ferguson's side had the best record in the Premier League in 2012, picking up 93 points from their 39 matches.
•They scored 90 league goals in 2012 - their most in a single calendar year since 2000 (95 goals). The only other time anyone has scored more is themselves in 1999 (91 goals) and Chelsea in 2010 (91 goals). |
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