Firstly, massive credit to Pulis and the lads for what was a thoroughly convincing win against Blackburn over the weekend. I think every Stokie in the ground (except maybe the PHW’s amongst us – Oldstokie & Co. ;-) ) left The Britannia Stadium beaming from ear to ear. It certainly did make for a great weekend. Although I was slightly annoyed that we still appeared third from last on MOTD, with the likes of the Merseyside Derby being given priority (a match which Lineker and co. openly admitted they struggled to put together enough clips for such was the poor quality of the match) and also the bore draw between Spurs and Villa too. Hey ho, I think this is something that is unlikely to change anytime soon; they’re all a bunch of “Garth Crooks”* if you ask me.

We get slated by every man and his dog for the way we play but there is no doubting that we can mix it up and play some good stuff at times. Etherington oozed class on Saturday and is getting all the plaudits, and rightly so, with an England call-up now being mentioned as a possibility. For my money, there is no better naturally left sided English player out there right now and he fully deserves a chance in the friendly against Egypt next month.

Now, we look forward to Wigan……..

Team Selection: -

You would think after the excellent 3-0 victory at the weekend the team would be unchanged barring injuries or suspensions but I suspect that won’t be the case.

I had a feeling Tony would go with Tuncay up front against Wigan and that was before Ric went and got himself arrested over the weekend, following what must have been an exhilarating night at the hotspot of Hanley which is JFK (2-4-1 on many alcopops). I’m pretty sure that Ric being replaced is 100% nailed on following his latest discretion.

The other possible changes are the inclusion of Abdy if he is back to full fitness and also the likely ‘revert-to-type’ in midfield with Salif returning at the expense of Lawrence. It would be extremely harsh to drop Wilko after his blood-and-guts display against Blackburn but I fear he will be sacrificed if Faye comes through a fitness test.

The side looked much more balanced with Lenny on the right but again, I fear he will be forfeited at the cost of “The Cage”

WD’s Starting XI prediction: -

--------------------------Sorensen-----------------------

Huth----------Abdy-------------Shawcross-----------Higgy-

Delap---------Diao------------Whitehead----------Ethers--

----------------Tuncay-----------Mama--------------------

Match Prediction: -

Although we are much improved this season on our travels we are still some distance from convincing and this will be another tough encounter. The “cage” will no doubt be restored as we set-up with the main intention of not losing the match and trying to score on the break, from a set piece or the infamous Rory Delap throw-in.

Wigan currently languish near the bottom of the league and will be targeting this match as a possible 3 points as they look to put some distance between themselves and the bottom three.

This is no doubt a match we can take 3 points from but it all depends on how we set up and which Stoke team turns up. If it is similar to Sunderland, which I suspect, then it could be a bit of long drawn out affair with a draw the most likely outcome.

I hope we come away with at least a point and we reach the 30 point barrier for the season.

Wigan 1 v 1 Stoke City (Rodallega, Tuncay)

WD

* 4 letter word. Begins with “c”, ends in “t” and rhymes with ‘bunt’.

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