Bramble aiming to avoid thorny Christmas
Titus Bramble has called on Latics to bounce back from their disappointing defeat at Arsenal when Blackburn visit the JJB on Saturday – to ensure the club can enjoy a Merry Christmas.
The visit of Rovers is Wigan's final game before Christmas, with the scheduled trip to Manchester United on December 20 having to be moved to January 14 because of the Reds' participation in the FIFA Club World Championship.
And, with the Premier League being tighter than ever this term, Bramble knows the importance of seeing off struggling Blackburn, who were soundly beaten 5-3 at the JJB last season.
"You need to go into any kind of break on a high," Bramble told the Observer. "Three points next week will ensure we go into the Christmas break on a high."
The defender firmly believes Wigan can sign off with a win – if they repeat the level of performance they put in at the Emirates Stadium last weekend.
"Next week is another massive game but we have to take the positives out of Saturday's game, and there were a lot," he added.
"I'm sure if we play as well next week as we did at Arsenal then we'll win get the three points. We had a great chance to get something from the game. Not many teams go to the Emirates and create the amount of chances we did so we're disappointed.
"That's why you play football – to play against people like that, and at one of the best stadiums in the world as well.
"We went there with a game-plan, stuck to it and were unlucky not to
get a result."
Keeper Chris Kirkland added: "We had them on the back foot for a lot of
the game and I don't think many teams do that.
"Manuel Almunia pulled off a great save from Mario Melchiot, but we have to take it on from here now.
"In the dressing room afterwards we were all gutted because we thought we had a decent chance to get something out of the game.
"I thought the lads at the back did well and looked settled, and Arsenal will be disappointed they didn't cause us more problems.
"We had them on the back foot a lot more than they had us on the back foot. The fans will have left here thinking 'how have we not got something from the game?' But that's great, and we have to keep playing like that."
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Weather for Wigan
Thursday 02 September 2010
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: 8 C to 22 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: East
Tomorrow
Sunny spells
Temperature: 9 C to 20 C
Wind Speed: 8 mph
Wind direction: South east
