Premier League 
/ Lee Dixon / 10 March 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Grant Holt leaves defenders battered and bruised but also scores plenty of goals
"A Norwich win is just about the weekend banker (Manchester United at home to West Brom would be the other) and that’s not something you’d often say when talking about the Premier League weekend fixture list."
Of all the matches in the Premier League this weekend, this is as close to a home banker as you might get. Wigan are in deep trouble whereas Norwich keep on showing they can more than compete at this level and have a proven goalscorer in Grant Holt, says Lee Dixon.
Match Odds
I suspect that if you asked any neutral which of the teams battling to fight relegation they'd most like to see avoid the drop, the most popular answer would be Wigan. Myself included.
I've met Roberto Martinez several times when he's been a guest on the Match Of The Day 2 sofa. He's one of the nicest blokes you'll ever meet in football and we speak a similar language when it comes to the way we see the game. He's tried really hard to get his side to play a good brand of football, keeping the ball on the deck and approaching the game in the right way. The problem this season is that he quite simply doesn't have the resources to execute that philosophy. He's had little or no money to spend of his own and was powerless to prevent his most creative player last year - Charles N'Zogbia - from leaving when a big offer came in.
This may well be the season that it's all too much for them. They've done incredibly well to remain in this league as long as they have without getting themselves into financial difficulties. If they do go down - and given that they're [1.28] for the drop the writing appears to be on the wall for them - they'll at least be in a far better position than they were when they came up all those years ago.
I've praised Norwich before for playing the game in the right way themselves. And though Opta tell us that they're not on a great run at home at the moment with just one win in their last five, this is arguably the easiest game they'll have to improve on that record.
A Norwich win is just about the weekend banker (Manchester United at home to West Brom would be the other) and that's not something you'd often say when talking about the Premier League weekend fixture list. But that's how I see it and in addition to the [1.91] about that, it may also be worth pushing the boat out a little more and backing them to win to nil at [3.4].
To Score
No prizes for originality here but Grant Holt is the man to be with. Not only is the skipper the team's top scorer with 10 but he's also in form, with three in his last three. He's a handful at the best of times and Wigan aren't the sort of side who will enjoy 90 minutes of hustling, bustling, nudging, holding and whatever else. He's a very decent player and has done extremely well to score as many goals as he has in his first season but Opta tell us he's also committed more fouls than any other player in the league this season. But let's focus on his goals. He's around [2.4] to score.
Corners odds
Slightly left of centre, this last one, but I fancy plenty of corners in this game. Norwich like to get the ball out wide and with the aforementioned Holt always an aerial threat, they're always happy to settle for a corner. Jean Beausejour added some extra width to Wigan's attack when he arrived in January and 13 or more corners at around [2.7] is worth a small interest.
3 pts Back Norwich to beat Wigan @ [1.9]
1 pt Back Norwich to win to nil @ [3.4]
2 pts back Grant Holt to score @ [2.4]
1 pt Back 13 corners or more @ [2.7]
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