Aston Villa continued their good form recently under manager Gerard Houllier and beat Wigan at the DW Stadium to move six points clear of the relegation zone while another poor result for Wigan ensures that they remain in the relegation zone. Villa had
three changes to the starting line up against Wigan. Nathan Baker and Jean Makoun made debuts replacing Clarke and Albrighton respectively. While Sylvian Petrov made way for Reo Coker. While for Wigan, Ed Boyce replaced Caldwell who was sent off in the last
match against Arsenal. James McCarthy and and Di Santo also started the match for Wigan.
It was Aston Villa who started well and the away side created some good chances with record signing Darren Bent combining well with the talented duo Agbonlahor and Ashley Young. There were not much chances created later in the first half apart from two good
runs from the in form Wigan winger Nzogbia. He beat the Aston Villa right back two times and hit the ball just inches over the goal on one occasion. The first half was rather a disappointment otherwise for the fans as there was not much to offer from both
the teams. But the second half started with Aston Villa all over Wigan with Darren Bent playing in Young forward with a through ball and the attacking midfielder beating the Wigan right back Gohouri and forcing a good save from Al Habsi who tipped the ball
over goal. But the break came two minutes later when Cuellar met a corner with a thumping header which the Wigan keeper saved brilliantly but it was unlucky when the save came as a mere tap in for Agbonlahor and Villa led with 40 minutes to go. It was only
after ten minutes when Ashley Young was brought down by Thomas in the Wigan box and the referee awarded Villa a penalty. Ashley Young took it and powered past Al Habsi to make it 2-0. It was all Aston Villa after that with Young and Bent taking the ball forward
but mostly in vain. It was out of no where when Wigan scored in the 80th minute through McCarthy. It was a huge deflection which resulted in a goal but it didn’t matter at that time. The goal lifted Wigan in a huge way and they played the last ten
minutes of the match in full search of the equalizer. The equalizer could have come in the 87th minute when Watson hit the ball just over the bar courtesy excellent play by Charles Nzogbia. But in the end the Villa defenders proved a bit too strong
for Wigan and were successful to keep the score to 2-1. Villa are currently on a good run of form winning two of the last three. The player of the match was undoubtedly Ashley Young. He was brilliant with passing and moving forward. The win took Villa to
13th on the table whereas Wigan are still in the relegation zone. The win also further cemented the position of manager Gerard Houllier and justified his decision to sign Darren Bent and Jean Makoun for the team. This can also be termed as revival
for Aston Villa as they were in the relegation zone a few weeks ago but are definitely on their way up now. On the other hand, Wigan have had some disastrous results recently and are firmly in the relegation zone now. Things could get worse for them if their
star player Charles Nzogbia leaves in the January transfer window which highly likely and would be a huge blow for the Lactics.