Match Preview: Swansea City vs Wigan Athletic

The Premier League returns, and good I miss my weekly douse of football. I don't think we can really call international football very glamorous compared to our usual domestic game. With that in mind, this weekend Wigan play another great passing team, one which was the original plan of our own Roberto Martinez.

There is of course a lot of history between Martinez and Swansea, but to sum it up in a nut shell. The fans down in south Wales don't like him anymore, not even after he laid the ground work for their rise up from League one and into the Premier League and surpassing their great rivals Cardiff at the same time.

Here they are, and under their current management, Swansea couldn't have had a better start winning their first two games with relative ease, beating QPR and West Ham United, 0-5 and 0-3 respectively. Yet since those two wins, the Swans have only managed two draws, last time around coming from two goals behind against Reading to draw 2-2.

So now they are out to get points on the board and start climbing up the table again. They haven't played bad the Swans, they are a sharp side filled with good technical players and quick wide men. What they are now missing, are the two men who have left in the summer.

Losing Scott Sinclair and Joe Allen, at first may not have seemed that bad. Yes they were two talented players, but they had players to replace them, and the signing of Michu was more than making up for there absence. However they now lack the Premier League experience, and are starting to suffer from second season syndrome.

We were there ourselves (Wigan) it is a long and painful process, and at times you feel like you are about to climb out of danger, before you get sucked back in.

Swansea though have a man who can do the job.

Miguel Perez Cuesta aka Michu signed for the Swans from Rayo Vallencano, after a successful season with the Spanish side scoring 15 goals in 37 games. The player was linked with Wigan yet there was no concrete interest from ourselves. How I wish we had been.

So far the season the player has scored 6 goals in a variety of different roles. He is the kind of player we thought we had signed in Jordi Gomez. Quick on the ball with the eye for a pass and shot on goal, all wrapped up for the price of £2 million. A good deal for Swansea and he could be one of the buys of the season.

Closer to home, Wigan have their own bargain buy in Arouna Kone, who alongside Franco Di Santo are scaring defenses. The two players were amazing against Everton ripping them to shreds with ease and creating chances especially in the first half. Kone hopefully can continue his form this weekend.

The other key area this coming weekend will be our defense. It is use to be caught out by faster players, and with no Alcaraz return, could we be vulnerable?

Gary Caldwell and Maynor Figueroa both put in two great shifts for their respective international sides, and if they can mimic those performances then the Latics defense will be a lot stronger this time round, mixing that with an ever improving Ivan Ramis.

At the end of the day the game will come come down to one thing, and one thing only. Which side can keep hold of the ball the most and play their style of football. If Wigan can be on top form and play their expansive open style and out class Swansea then the three points shall be ours.