Alan Hansen’s Premier League Preview: Tottenham v Wigan

Harry Redknapp’s Tottenham face another potential banana skin when they host Wigan at the Lane this weekend. Roberto Martinez’ side have blown hot and cold this season with superb wins over Chelsea at home plus away wins at Aston Villa and Burnley. Those wins have been marred by poor results at Portsmouth (4-0), Hull (2-1) and Arsenal 4-0 plus home defeats to Manchester United (5-0) and Wolves (1-0). Up next is a tough trip to North London although Tottenham are not in the greatest of form themselves.

Spurs may have beaten Sunderland last time out but Harry will be not be fooled by what was a rather fortunate result. His side was outplayed for most of the game which would have surprised the manager. However, at least that result ended a run of two defeats without scoring a goal.

Tottenham’s dip in form has unsurprisingly coincided with a number of injuries to key players. However, creative stars Luka Modric and Aaron Lennon are close to fitness which will give the team a big lift. Jermain Defoe returned from suspension against Sunderland and may play a key role against the Latics as he possesses a great record of four goals in five Premier League starts against this weekend’s opposition.

It will be interesting who Harry Starts with up front after the tactic of playing Defoe, Robbie Keane and Peter Crouch against Sunderland didn’t work. Robbie may be the one to miss out as he has had two tough play-off matches against France while Crouch and Defoe only made substitute appearances against Brazil so should be fresher as a result.

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Wigan have only won one of their last five league matches so confidence won’t be high ahead of this trip. They’ve also lost four of their last five away league games while conceding 13 goals. Only three teams have conceded more goals on their travels than the Latics who have not kept an away clean-sheet since the opening day of the season at Villa Park. The 4-0 defeat at bottom club Portsmouth will have alarm bells ringing for Martinez whose side have never won at White Hart Lane in five previous attempts in league and cup (3 defeats).

Those of you who are debating whether to back the draw should note that Tottenham haven’t drawn at home in 12 league games and Wigan haven’t drawn away in the same number of matches themselves. Therefore, there’s likely to be a winner. Given both sides recent form, I’d have to back a home win on Premier 10 with £30,000 on offer.

Tottenham may have suffered a dip in form but only the big four have won more points in 2009, so I’m backing Harry’s side to grab an all-important win with a number of players soon to return from injury.

Tags: Alan Hansen, Premier 10, Premier League, Tottenham, Wigan

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