Follow every kick as Wigan Athletic take on Bolton Wanderers at The DW Stadium in the Premier League
on 21-Dec-2009, kick off time 20:00
Wigan Athletic v Bolton Wanderers Live
Two sides hovering just above the relegation zone meet on Monday night, with just two points separating them. Wigan, who host Bolton in this vital clash, find themselves in 14th place, but just two points above the drop zone, while Bolton remain out of the bottom three on goal difference alone. Roberto Martinez's Latics went down by two goals to one against Liverpool in midweek and have now only managed one win in their last seven top tier games. Central to their poor run of form has been the porous nature of their defence, with 16 goals shipped in their last five league games and only one clean sheet kept in 12 fixtures. While the Latics failed to improve on their points tally during the week, Gary Megson's Bolton side pulled off a vital 3-1 win against fellow strugglers West Ham United. Lee Chung-Yong, Ivan Klasnic and Gary Cahill were the heroes at the Reebok Stadium, contributing to the Trotters' first league victory in seven games, a result which moved them out of the bottom three. The recently-recalled Zat Knight was one of the stars of Bolton's win on Tuesday and the towering centre-half is no eager to establish himself as a regular in the side. "I want to use my experience and leadership to stay in the team and help the boys through the busy Christmas period and I feel I've done that in the last couple of games," the former Fulham man told the club website. However, while Bolton will be hoping to use the win over West Ham as a springboard to more success, they have only managed to pick up one point from their last four Premier League away games, while they have also only managed one clean sheet in their last 20 games. Those fans going to the game hoping for a goalfest to keep them warm may well be disappointed as last season. The two meetings between these sides produced only one goal in total, courtesy of Amr Zaki's successful spot-kick at the Reebok Stadium last December. Martinez should have a full complement of players to choose from ahead of this important game, while Megson will continue to be without long-term casualties Sean Davis and Joey O'Brien.
Source: DSG
