BILLY BUNTER

Weblog: The football punter

Wigan hard to assess but could be a big price

WHAT on earth do you make of Wigan?

Back in the winter they were utterly hopeless, conceding goals by the
bucketful and posing no threat whatsoever going forward, with
relegation looking an absolute cert.

Yet last week they outplayed Chelsea and Manchester United, getting
their just deserts with a brilliant 1-0 win over Fergie's mob after
being robbed by the officials at Stamford Bridge.

And don't fall into the trap of thinking United were similarly hard
done by that night. Fergie was begrudging in his praise of Wigan after
the game, saying United hadn't got anything from the officials.

I can only assume that what he meant by that was: "The ref did his job perfectly by disallowing that Wigan goal for no apparent reason and then failing to send off Jonny Evans for clattering into their bloke
for a blatant second bookable offence. But then he disgraced himself
by not giving one or two marginal decisions in our favour later."

There's no doubt United were off their game on Wednesday night and
Wigan are likely to find it even tougher against Arsenal, who are on a
flying run.

But even so at double-figure prices I've got to chance Roberto
Martinez's boys. They're genuinely playing outstanding football and
Arsenal always have a shocker in them somewhere down the line.