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We spoke to Wigan Athletic fan Bert, who gave us the inside view before this afternoon’s game at Villa Park.
Words by Regan Foy (@FindFoy)
We spoke to Wigan Athletic fan Bert (@_Bert_Hughes) regarding Wigan Athletic, what Aston Villa can expect in their first home game of the 2018/19 season, and even got an exclusive insight into Aston Villa’s interest into Nick Powell.
How excited are you to be back in the Championship? Do you think Wigan can stay up this season?
I’m really excited, and even more excited after beating Sheffield Wednesday in our first game.
I think Wigan will stay up, and I think we’ll be mid-table or thereabouts. My heart says we’ll do what Brentford did in 2014/15 – but I thought that last time too.
How happy are you with the transfers made this summer? And with deadline day?
Keeping Nick Powell was very important for us.
We’ve made some strong signing considering the takeover hasn’t happened yet. Lee Evans coming back is very good news. We lost big Dan Burn to Brighton, but he’ll be with us on loan until January.
Our signings of Cedric Kipre and Josh Windass both have undoubted talent, but I’m not sure where Windass fits in.
Speaking of Nick Powell, what was the general feeling around the Wigan camp about his potential move to Aston Villa?
Nick Powell was apparently recorded on a Twitch.TV stream where he mentioned going to visit Steve Bruce – so it was perhaps a bit closer than people thought. That did the rounds and put the fear of god up us.
The vast majority of people will want him to stay. 99.9% of us. I think he’ll stay in January too, especially with our takeover. There’s a bit of an inside joke that suggests he won’t sign for a club more than 50 miles from Crewe.
If you could pick any Aston Villa player to be in Wigan’s squad, who would it be?
Conor Hourihane or Mile Jedinak. Hourihane was a cracking player for Barnsley and he stood out whenever we played them. Jedinak was rock solid when we played Villa in December 2016.
Who should Aston Villa be on the look out for on Saturday?
Nick Powell, or Sam Morsy in midfield, he has this uncanny knack of shielding the ball and maintaing possession. We’ve got a few players from the Midland’s area in Grigg, Dunkley and Morsy – so they might try and get an edge over you.
Where do you think Aston Villa will finish this season?
Assuming all the issues are put to bed with your new owners, I’d say somewhere in the region of 4th-6th.
Finally, what’s the score going to be?
1-1. Aston Villa will be a decent test with a large crowd and quality players, but our manager Paul Cook is uber-positive and destined to go further, so he’ll be looking to impress.
