Walsall - Wimbledon, English Division 1
2004-03-13 16.00 CET
Pick: Walsall
Stake: 3%
Odds: 1,65
Final reason for bet
· Walsall put up a fine performance in their last game.
· Walsall has played better than their results lately.
· Walsall will get back some players from injury.
· Wimbledon is in real bad shape having lost their eight latest games.
· Wimbledon has major selection problems because of injuries, suspensions and players leaving.
General comment about the game
Relegation battlers Walsall will be visited by bottom of the table Wimbledon on Saturday afternoon. Walsall currently resides in 21st place only three points above the drop zone. Before New Year they were stable in the middle of the table and not near the relegation battle. But, when looking at their recent record it is not so surprising that they have dropped down the table since they have not won for ten games. This is obviously not good but we must bear in mind that they have played against many good promotion chasing teams lately such as Wigan, West Ham, Stoke, Sunderland, Reading and West Bromwich. They have also been plagued by injuries, suspensions and off-field tribulations. In last game away against West Ham they earned a well deserved draw. The team played very good and showed both character and discipline and it was clear right from the beginning that it would not be an easy game for the hosts. Both teams had good opportunities too score and the draw was a fair result. Also in many other games lately Walsall has played quite well and with better luck they would have earned more points than they have done. They have now put themselves in a position when near is not enough anymore and a better opportunity to turn things around than on Saturday does not exist. The team will get boosted by the fact that defenders Paul Ritchie (26 apps, 0 goal) and Matt Carbon (4 apps, 0 goal) will return after recovering from their injuries. This will hopefully add some much-needed steel to the central defence. Furthermore, veteran playmaker Paul Merson (24 apps, 4 goals) is back in England and has joined the team in training this week. Merson has been in US to receive counselling for addictive problems. Manager Colin Lee will decide late if he is fit enough for Saturday’s clash. Midfielders Steve Corica (15(2) apps, 2 goals) and Darren Wrack (21(3) apps, 6 goals) and defender Ian Roper (24 apps, 0 goals) has not fully recovered from their injuries and are rated highly doubtful for Saturday.
Struggling bottom of the table Wimbledon is down on their bare bones. They are cemented in the bottom, 13 points behind Bradford who resides on 23rd place and 20 points behind Saturday’s opponent Walsall who is the team nearest just outside the relegation zone. Furthermore, Wimbledon is the worst form team with eight straight defeats. As we previously has reported they have sold many of their best players in late January and since then they have not managed to score a single goal; five defeats and the goal difference 0-14. If this was not enough the bad news culminated? in midweek when they only had ten senior players available for the trip to London. They faced promotion hopefuls West Ham and got hammered by 5-0. The team news does not look any brighter ahead of the trip to face Walsall. Strikers Dean Holdsworth (26 apps, 3 goals) and Jamie Mackie (5(3) apps, 0 goals) are definitely missing and midfielder Wade Small (18 apps, 1 goal) is rated doubtful. Furthermore defender Dean Lewington (18 apps, 1 goals) is suspended. This leaves very few options for manager Stuart Murdoch, especially the attacking side looks thin and he is likely to once again name young defender Nico Herzig (12(1) apps, 0 goal) as striker.
This is a game between two teams in the lower part of the table and both with no recent record to be happy about. However, that are the only things they have in common. Walsall has played better than their results, they have more than double of the points that Wimbledon have, they will get back a few players to this game and they have a much more experienced and bigger squad. Furthermore, they got a boost when they in last game earned a draw against West Ham, a West Ham side that just a few days after outplayed a week Wimbledon side. We can not see Walsall drop points on Saturday; therefore we suggest a medium stake 3% on a home win.
Recent games for home team
|
2004-03-06 |
West Ham-Walsall |
0-0 |
|
2004-03-03 |
Walsall-Sunderland |
1-3 |
|
2004-02-28 |
Wigan-Sunderland |
1-0 |
|
2004-02-21 |
Walsall-Watford |
1-0 |
|
2004-02-14 |
Nottingham-Walsall |
3-3 |
Recent games for away team
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2004-03-09 |
West Ham-Wimbledon |
5-0 |
|
2004-03-02 |
Wimbledon-Nottingham |
0-1 |
|
2004-02-28 |
Watford-Wimbledon |
4-0 |
|
2004-02-21 |
Wimbledon-Coventry |
0-3 |
|
2004-02-07 |
Wimbledon-Norwich |
0-1 |
Home table
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Walsall |
17 |
6 |
6 |
5 |
23-23 |
24 |
Away table
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Wimbledon |
17 |
3 |
0 |
14 |
14-41 |
9 |
Links for this game
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Wimbledon: |
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// SportsObserver 040312
