Key battles
Both Norwich and Wigan attack predominantly down their respective left flanks, so the contest may well be influenced heavily by the players that are likely to occupy these positions: Anthony Pilkington for Norwich and Jordi Gomez for Wigan.
In terms of overall passing ability, both players are quite evenly matched:
| Passing | Pilkington | Gomez | |
| Games Started | 19 | 21 | |
| Substitute Appearances | 4 | 1 | |
| Minutes Played | 1609 | 1583 | |
| OPP Completion % | 82% | 83% | |
| Successful Dribble | 10 | 9 | |
| Accurate Crosses | 32 | 7 | |
| Total Crosses | 88 | 44 | |
| Crossing Accuracy | 36% | 16% | |
| Total Chances Created (inc Assists) | 31 | 23 | |
However, it is clear that Pilkington crosses the ball more often than Gomez and is more than twice as accurate with his delivery. Also, Pilkington is much more effective in terms of shooting accuracy and scoring goals:
| Shooting | Pilkington | Gomez | |
| Goals | 7 | 4 | |
| Mins per goal | 230 | 396 | |
| Shots on Target | 15 | 14 | |
| Shots off Target | 9 | 16 | |
| Total Shots | 24 | 30 | |
| Mins per shot | 67 | 53 | |
| Mins per shot on target | 107 | 113 | |
| Shooting Accuracy | 63% | 47% | |
| Chance Conversion | 29% | 13% | |
These difference in delivery quality and end-product could be pivotal in deciding the outcome of the match.
Game pattern
Despite Wigan often adopting defensive formations, they have a terrible record when it comes to conceding goals (52) this season. Given Norwich’s ability to score goals (38) and their own lack of clean sheets this season, goals can be expected during the game. Wigan will look to play their passing possession game, while Norwich will look to capitalise on crossing opportunities, set-pieces and even Wigan’s own mistakes.
With this in mind for Norwich, the game is tailor-made for a creative attacking midfielder such as Wes Hoolahan. His ability to see a pass may create chances against a leaky Wigan defence.
The game would also suit David Fox, Norwich’s play-maker. His influence on matches and his team-mates is often under-estimated, but his ability to dictate play from deep in midfield is something Norwich miss when he doesn’t play. In addition, he retains the ball really well and can link up play with the forwards – something that could be even more important to Norwich if Wigan approach the game with five in midfield. Fox also has very good set-piece delivery.
Wigan may resort to long shots at times, but as we’ve seen, they have an excellent record with this, so Norwich will need to prevent as many of these attempts as possible. Wigan’s best chance of getting something out of the game will be to get their wide men involved as much as possible, hoping to unlock a Norwich defence that has only kept two clean sheets all season. Moses in particular is a tricky little winger, and was certainly a thorn in Norwich’s side when the two teams fought out a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season. His end-product often lets him down though, and here lies one of Wigan’s problems – a lack of goals scored.
As the season has progressed Norwich have continued to improve and now look reasonably safe from relegation. In contrast, Wigan will be fighting for their Premier League status and will be looking to take something from every game in the run-in. If Norwich play to their strengths, it could well be a very difficult afternoon for Wigan.
The stats from this article have been taken from the Opta Stats Centre at EPLIndex.com – Subscribe Now (Includes author privileges!) See Demo’s and videos about the Stats Centre & read about new additions to the stats centre.
