Wigan v Man City preview

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Last updated: 26th September 2008   Subscribe to RSS Feed

Wigan v Man City preview

Robinho: Settled in quickly

PREDICTIONS:

Skysports.com prediction: 2-2

SKY BET odds: Wigan 12/5, Draw 9/4, City 6/5

One to Watch: Robinho

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Manchester City travel to Wigan for Sunday's North West derby, live on Sky Sports 1, in a mixed frame of mind following what has been an interesting but not altogether satisfactory past seven days for Mark Hughes' side.

A 6-0 routing of Portsmouth in City's last league outing had the Eastlands faithful dreaming of silverware; Wednesday night's defeat at Brighton in the Carling Cup left them to muse over what might have been.

It will be a much altered City side at The JJB as Hughes turns to those that so impressed in putting Portsmouth to the sword. An adventurous midfield that includes playmaking duo Stephen Ireland and Elano, along with the rejuvenate Shaun Wright-Phillips will be anchored by Vincent Kompany - who has excelled since joining the club prior to the close of the transfer window.

Robinho has already found his feet upon moving to England on transfer deadline day from Real Madrid, and will be paired alongside Jo, another Brazilian who is starting to show his ability following a big-money switch.

While City were woeful at the Withdean, Wigan were ruthlessly efficient on their travels to Ipswich as they came away from Portman Road with a 4-1 win.

Latics boss Steve Bruce signalled his intent by naming a strong side for the Carling Cup clash and thus there are expected to be only minimal changes for the visit of City.

Jason Koumas was named on the substitutes' bench in midweek but his early season displays could see him edge out summer signing Olivier Kapo to start.

The same could be said of Maynor Figueroa, who will come in at the expense of Kevin Kilbane.

Otherwise, Bruce is likely to stick with those that have performed well to date despite picking up just five points from as many Premier League games this season.

Possible line-ups

Wigan: Kirkland, Figueroa, Scharner, Bramble, Boyce, Melchiot, Valencia, Palacios, Koumas, Zaki, Heskey

Man City: Hart, Zabaleta, Garrido, Dunne, Kompany, Richards, Elano, Ireland, Robinho, Wright- Phillips, Jo