WIGAN BETTING TIPS 2009/10 PREMIER LEAGUE

Wigan have battled and scraped for everything that they have in the Premier League at the moment and I think they are the definition of what a small club can achieve with a can-do spirit on the field and good management in the back offices. Mario Melchiot leads the Latics into this season and I can see them chugging along, but I don't think they'll make up a huge amount of ground over last year. Roberto Martinez is a quality manager, and I fancy him to hold up to regular Premiership contenders. Lee Cattermole is one of my favourite young players and I think he'll have a few teams banging on the door for him at the end of the season. I've also heard great things about James McCarthy, the young signing from Hamilton Academical. Titus Bramble looks a man transformed and Jason Koumas has always been a quality, albeit under-stated sort of player. Wigan are favoured to finish in the bottom half this year, so if they can string together some good results, then you're going to qualify for a solid payday. Currently, they are 16/5 to improve on last year's results. They are also 11/2 to finish 11th again. They carry a 4/11 price to finish below 11th. Relegation doesn't seem to be a realistic possibility for the Latics, but they could struggle with a run of bad results. They sit at 4/1 should they go down and there looks to be plenty of space between them and the likely relegation fodder. Should Wigan finish in the top half, you're looking at an 11/4 payout. I think it will be a year of consolidation, but they could be just a few quality signings away from next year's Europa League if things go well.