Manchester United will be involved in a very important live English Premier League game this weekend as they take on Wigan Athletic on Saturday August 22nd. Man U has always been a favorite to compete for the league title but this year the team seems to be missing that something special that they usually have. They played uninspired football in their first game and then were upset by Burnley this past week. They will need to bounce back quick in order to compete with Wigan Athletic this weekend and prove that they are still one of the teams to beat in the EPL.
Wigan Athletic started off their 2009-10 EPL season on the right note with a convincing 2-0 win over Aston Villa. However, that did not carry over to the next game as they were outplayed and upset by a score of 0-1 against the Wolverhampton Wanderers. They will definitely need to be at their best this weekend and rely on top flight play from Hugo Rodallega and Jordi Gomez. It will be interesting to see if Roberto Martinez elects to use Jason Scotland in this game or leave him on the bench again.
Sunderland had high hopes entering their game against Chelsea but could not keep up with the squad that Carlo Ancelotti has put together. While Sunderland did strike first they could not hold off Chelsea for long and fell victim thanks to goals from Michael Ballack, Frank Lampard, and Deco. It was a struggle for Sunderland to keep up most of the game but they did show some promise. Darren Bent scored for the second time in two games to lead the team. They have a lot to learn from the game and should be able to use those lessons to help gain a victory over Blackburn on Saturday August 22nd.
Blackburn was dominated by Manchester City on Tuesday and will need to come out with a much better effort against Sunderland. Just three minutes in Emmanuel Adebayor drove home a pass from Shaun-Wright Phillips and Man City did not look back from there.
City had the second best home record in the Barclays Premier League last season behind neighbours United while Wolves had the most wins on the road in the Championship.
Wolverhampton jumped out quickly in their game against Wigan Athletic as they scored in just the 5th minute when Andy Keogh drove a header to the back of the net. Many were predicting that Wigan would manhandle the Wolves in their home game but it wasn’t meant to be for Roberto Martinez and his squad. Instead the Wolves pulled away with three points and look like they are up for competing this year.
On the other side of the pitch Manchester City lived up to their expectations and handled Blackburn with ease in their game. Even without some of their stars playing such as Carlos Tevez, City showed what they were able to do and have to be one of the favorites to compete at the top of the table this year. A big win over the Wolves would give them a jumpstart on the competition and prove that they are for real this 2009-10 English Premier League season.
Hull City has been unable to score goals or defend well so far this season and it isn’t looking good for Hull fans. After battling it out with Chelsea in a 1-2 loss, the team was then dominated by the Tottenham hotspurs by a score of 1-5. While the team did find the back of the net in both games thanks in large part to strong play from Stephen Hunt, they need to do more. They should be able to play with Bolton and compete much better than they did in the previous games and it will be interesting to see how well Phil Brown has prepared his team.
Bolton has only been a part of one live English Premier League game so far this year and there were a few positives that came from the game even though they lost. They were unable to score but their defence was tested quite a bit by Sunderland and especially Darren Bent, but they stood strong. Jussi Jaaskelainen played very well in net and the offense led by Muamba and Elmander should be improved in this game with a bit more practice.
