A villa win wouldn't be the end of the world, it cuts Wigan further adrift and heaps even more pressure on them ?
If Villa win this our chances of staying up will dramatically reduced. They will come to us with their tails up and if they beat us at home it could well send us down. Wigan would love the pressure, they thrive on it. You want another team far behind us a rear guard.
I know everyone seems to want Sunderland to win (is that right) but I'm not sure that's entirely logical. Firstly, if Villa win, that means both teams, rather than just one will be below us. That means we have two teams whose results we simply have to match to be safe. If they draw, obviously that means fewer points between them, so that would be a good result, but I certainly don't want Sunderland to win. I suppose you could argue that a Villa win might give them confidence for Saturday, but equally a Villa loss might make them steelier. A tricky one... I'm going to support the under-18s!
The wigan luck will run out at some point, Figueroa is now out for the season, the cup & the added league pressure will tell ?
I wish I could just watch the cup game, ITVplayer appears to be broken. No sound and the stream keeps cutting out. I'd personally like a draw in the league game tonight, as it keeps Villa in trouble and doesn't let Sunderland get safe. Table must make horrible reading for Wigan as it stands, 5 points adrift with 4 to play (in 15 days) is a tough ask for anyone, and that includes a trip to Arsenal, where Arsenal could well still need something from. They need a minimum of 2 wins, and I can't see Swansea, West Brom and Villa all being that generous.
I thought that too, they have said some nice things about us, but particularly the half time chat was very pro-Chelsea.