Manchester City - Wigan: my thoughts.

Manchester City are back home at the Etihad Stadium after two impressive away wins at Bolton and Tottenham, to greet Wigan Athletic. City have won their opening three games and have scored 12 goals in the process, while Wigan have also had an unbeaten start.


Looking at this game on paper, you would expect a thumping from Manchester City. We boast attacking talent such as Edin Dzeko, Samir Nasri, David Silva and Sergio Aguero. And if things don't go too well, we can always bring on Carlos Tevez, Mario Balotelli and Adam Johnson. But Wigan always make things difficult for Manchester City at the newly named Etihad Stadium. In fact, in this fixture last season, we only beat Wigan because of a terrible howler from Wigan 'keeper al Habsi, who failed to hold on to a shot from David Silva.

Wigan's main threats come from Franco Di Santo and Victor Moses, who have started the season in electric form. Di Santo has 2 goals in three games, while Victor Moses has kept defences busy with his darting runs and tricky skills.

City's main threats almost aren't worth going through, because I'd honestly be listing most of the squad. Edin Dzeko has 6 goals in three games, David Silva has two goals in three games, Gareth Barry has a goal to his name, and Samir Nasri & Sergio Aguero have three assists and three goals respectively. City are packed full of stars, who will hopefully turn on the magic in City's first Saturday 3pm kick off in what seems like a decade.

You never know which Wigan team you're going to get. Are you going to get the Wigan team that lay down and died when playing Manchester United, or are you going to get the spirited Wigan team that managed to secure a win away to Stoke on the last day of the season to stay in the Premier League?

I do think City will come away victorious, but I'm not sure how comfortably the win will be. Wigan seemed difficult to break down at the Etihad Stadium last season, but City have a little more cutting edge about them now. Edin Dzeko is in the form where, if he plays, you expect him to score. Samir Nasri and David Silva are buzzing around delightfully, and Sergio Aguero is in good form. But with the Napoli game in mind, will Mancini go with a slightly weaker team? Adam Johnson in for Samir Nasri? Mario Balotelli in for Edin Dzeko?

City's one weakness is their inability to defend set pieces at the moment. The three goals they've concede this season have come from balls into the box, and this even worried Mancini after they'd thrashed Tottenham 5-1 at White Hart Lane.

Final prediction - Manchester City 2-0 Wigan Athletic.

My thoughts on the team.
Hart; Zabaleta, Kompany, Savic, Kolarov; de Jong, Barry; Nasri, Silva, Aguero, Dzeko.

Last five meetings.City 1-0 Wigan
Wigan 0-2 City
City 3-0 Wigan
Wigan 1-1 City
City 1-0 Wigan