Wigan Athletic v Sunderland: Martinez aims to put horror show to bed

Wigan Athletic had a seriously bad day at the office last weekend at White Hart Lane and yet at half-time it looked as though they could have snatched a draw at least. However, as we all saw, a Jermain Defoe-inspired Spurs side tore the Latics to shreds and inflicted them to their heaviest defeat in history.

Roberto Martinez has reportedly watched that horror show a number of times this week so you can guarantee there will be no repeat performance today. He will have identified what went wrong at the Lane and demand a glowing performance from his players today. And after wins over Aston Villa and Chelsea, I wouldn’t be surprised if they bounced back from last week’s torture to beat Arsenal’s conquerors at the DW Stadium.

Steve Bruce returns to his former club desperate to remain in the hunt for European football. The Black Cats are currently in eighth place and are just five points behind Arsenal in third spot, who play Chelsea tomorrow. However, their away form this season hasn’t been great. They’ve recorded just four points on the road this season and haven’t won away from the Stadium of Light since the opening day of the campaign. Can they pile more misery on Martinez’s men or will they the Black Cats be unlucky again?

Sunderland have been boosted by the news that Darren Bent should be fit for the game and Michael Turner is available after serving a suspension. Meanwhile, Wigan are expected to make a number of changes to the team that lost nine against Spurs.

This will be the 14^th meeting between the two sides in history and Sunderland have only managed to win three. They managed a point at the DW Stadium last year. Can they go one better this time round? The Panel believes they can.

Wigan Athletic v Sunderland; Kick Off 3pm 28 Nov 2009

Prediction Panel
Our panel contains both Squarefootball writers and readers, the writers are marked: (sqf).

Dave Blackburn : 1 - 1
Chris Cox : 1 - 1
Graham Enwright : 2 - 1
Sue Gardener : 1 - 3
Chris Goodwin : 0 - 1
Paul Grech (sqf) : TBC
Colin Illingworth (sqf) : 3 - 1
Hugh Larkin (sqf) : 0 - 0
Peter Lee : 0 - 1
Don McMahon : 2 - 1
Antony Melvin (sqf) : 1 - 2
Paul O'Meara (sqf) : TBC
Dave Nash : 2 - 2
Stephen Orford (sqf) : TBC
Tony Ratton : 2 - 2
Peter Rendle : 0 - 2
Dan Taylor : 0 - 2
Andy Wakeman : 2 - 3
Isaac Williams : 1 - 1
Mark Williams : TBC

Panel Verdict

It really is too tight to mention, but the majority of the Panel believes Sunderland will get a share of the spoils at least.

Home: 3; Draw: 6; Away: 7; TBC: 4.

* Do we have it right, or do you know better? Please don't bother with derisory comments on the predictions after the match - unless you also pulled us up before it!