Battle at the Cottage: Fulham takes on Wigan in a Premier League Game

Wigan Athletic Latics and Fulham Cottagers will be playing in a Premier League game at Craven Cottage on Saturday, January 12^th.

At Craven Cottage, the battle against these two teams has always been in favor of Fulham.  Since Wigan has joined the Premier League in 2005, they only beat Fulham twice, in 2005 and 2006.

Recently Fulham lost one of their star players, Clint Dempsey, to a league rival, Tottenham. For the last two seasons, not only was he the leading scorer, but he was also voted “Player of the Season” by the fans.

An up-and-coming star has started to emerge for the “Cottagers” though, forward Dimitar Berbatov. He currently has 7 goals and 48 shots in his 16 appearances, making him the leader of the team in these categories.

David Stockdale, the second goalie for Fulham, has been making the start for the past two games this season due to starting goalie, Mark Schwarzer, being placed on the injured list. Last season, Stockdale has started during Schwarzer’s neck injury that lasted for about 6 weeks.

The Latics has their top player as well, forward Arouna Kone. Over his past 20 appearances this season, he is the team leader with 6 goals and 50 shots.

Starting in the goaltending position for Wigan is Ali Al Habsi. In his past 21 starts, he has 72 saves, equaling to an average of 3.43 saves per game.

Wigan is coming off a 0-4 loss against the top Premier League Manchester United. Fulham is coming off a win against #7 ranked West Bromwich Albion.

Looking at the standings of the table, Fulham is positioned 13^th and Wigan is positioned at 18^th. If Fulham were to win, and with losses from both Norwich City and West Ham United, Fulham’s positioning will move up to 11^th. If Wigan were to win, and with loses from Newcastle United, Aston Villa, and Southampton, Wigan will move to 15^th place in the league.