Will Manchester United Avoid Dropping Points at Wigan?

Manchester United were never under much threat on Wednesday night in a dull 0-0 draw with Marseille in the first leg of their Champions League last 16 encounter. Will the distraction of the Champions League cost Manchester United the Premier League, as it arguably did last season?

Important Fixtures

This is a big week as far as Manchester United’s season is concerned as they travel to Wigan Athletic on Saturday looking to maintain their 100% win record over the Latics in the Premier League (11/11) before their third successive away game in a week when they play Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night.

Chelsea do not play this weekend, giving them extra time to recover from their straight forward victory in Copenhagen on Tuesday night. Advantage Chelsea. Big advantage Chelsea.

1 Year Ago

Last season, Chelsea were eliminated at the last 16 stage against Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan, while Manchester United progressed onto the quarter final where they lost to Bayern Munich. A trip to Munich on March 30th was followed up with a home defeat to Chelsea on April 3rd, with Chelsea having had no midweek fixture.

Sir Alex Ferguson simply has to rest his first team for this trip, despite it almost being a must-win game. And in truth, his back ups aren’t all that great, as shown when they narrowly hung on to a 1-0 victory over non-league Crawley Town in the FA Cup last weekend.

Depth

Gabriel Obertan and Bebe simply didn’t look up to Premier League standard at the weekend but could easily be given another chance this weekend. I can see Ryan Giggs and Paul Scholes being rested for the big game with Chelsea midweek. That would leave Darron Gibson being their most creative midfielder available, should Nani not play 90 minutes in this match (but he looks fit enough to play 3 games in a week). Anderson and Park Ji-Sung are absent through injury.

The Little Pea

Up front, Javier Hernandez has proven to be a goalscoring backup and Sir Alex Ferguson should look towards the Mexican to give Wayne Rooney a rest this weekend.

Chris Smalling

Defensively for Manchester United, Chris Smalling has looked good in recent games in the absence of Rio Ferdinand. Wigan don’t have much aerial threat, which is where Manchester United have looked exposed without their England captain. Keep Charles N’Zogbia and Hugo Rodallega quiet is usually the tactic to stopping Wigan.

The first question is, will Manchester United pick up 3 points against Wigan for the 12th consecutive game? And how many key players will be sacrificed ahead of their trip to Stamford Bridge on Tuesday night? Manchester United are currently 1.6 to beat Wigan with Betfair.

Written by Premiership Tips.