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Tuesday’s clash between Wigan and Aston Villa shapes as a crunch match for both sides as they continue to fight for Premier League survival.

Wigan sit 18th on the table after Saturday’s 3-0 loss to Arsenal, but are just three points behind 16th-place Villa, who moved out of the relegation zone with an upset 1-0 win over Manchester City.

A win for either side at the DW Stadium on Tuesday would secure a valuable three points while dealing a blow to the survival hopes of the loser, and Wigan goalkeeper Ali Al Habsi said his side are facing a defining period in their campaign.

“We now have 15 games left of the season, and the next three games are going to be massive for us, with Aston Villa, West Brom and Blackburn coming up,” said Al Habsi.

“These three games I think are going to shape our season, and we have to concentrate and do ourselves justice.”

“Tomorrow’s game is huge. One point isn’t good enough against Villa – we need to be picking up all three and we’ll need everyone – the players and the fans – pulling in the same direction to do that.”

The loss against Arsenal extended Wigan’s winless run to five matches in the Premier League, but they have been beaten just once in their last eight outings at the DW Stadium.

Manager Roberto Martinez will have a near-full squad to choose from, with only midfielders Tom Cleverley and Viktor Moses unavailable.

Villa will need to overcome their poor form on the road if they are to claim their seventh win of the season on Tuesday.

Gerard Houllier’s side have won just one league game on the road this season, but will be full of confidence after they snapped a five game winless streak with their victory over Manchester City.

Record signing Darren Bent scored the only goal of the match on Saturday, but the 18-million-pound man predicted there were plenty more to come.

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“It was a fantastic feeling to score the goal. For a striker, there really is no better feeling in the world than seeing that ball fly into the back of the net,” Bent said.

“Hopefully they’ll be many more games like this to come.”

Villa also have a short injury list, with the absence of Stephen Ireland the only real concern for Houllier.

Earlier this week, Jay Rodriguez finally made the switch to Southampton.

Talk of a transfer had been rife since the end of the season, and there were even conspiracy theories surrounding the reasons for his absence in the final games of the campaign.

The official word was that he was struggling with a groin injury, but many believed manager Eddie Howe was protecting him; wary of the fact that a serious injury in the final weeks could scupper a transfer and a potentially large fee.

I would like to take this opportunity to quash those rumours here and now, having been inside the training facility myself in April and seen Rodriguez on the physio’s table receiving treatment for the injury. If it were a phantom complaint, it seems an awful lot of trouble to go to on the club’s part to keep up the charade.

The seemingly inevitable transfer has now been agreed of course, and I feel we have come out on the better side of it. The fee, thought to be around £6-7m, is a big one for a player without a single minute of Premier League experience. The club; having brought Rodriguez through the centre of excellence; has made a healthy profit and should look to spend the money wisely on replacing him.

Rodriguez has the potential to be a top class striker. Tall, quick, strong in the air and with the ability to score goals from anywhere, he provided an extra edge to our attack; something quite different from the likes of goal poacher Charlie Austin or the workmanlike Martin Paterson.

At 22, he is still young and only has two full seasons of professional football under his belt, but the improvement we have seen in him over those two years has been marked. He has developed from a waif-like youngster restricted to a few minutes of action from the bench, into the side’s spearhead and main attacking threat.

Like all Burnley fans, I have only fond memories of his time at the club. Coming off the bench to score the winner in the 120th minute against Fulham, he was the one who sparked off the incredible run to the Carling Cup semi finals in 2009, and it was his goal against Spurs which sent that semi final into extra time. I’ve been going to Turf Moor for 18 years and I can’t recall a goal ever being celebrated quite like that one.

Highlights from the most recent campaign include a marvellous headed double at the City Ground in January, bettered by a solo effort in the next game at home to Peterborough which more than merited the Goal of the Season award.

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Burnley born, the fans immediately took to him and you could tell that he absolutely loved playing for the club. I believe that given enough game time, he will thrive at Premiership level alongside the likes of Ricky Lambert. The two have similar qualities (although Lambert has honed his over a longer career) and it will be interesting to see if Nigel Adkins plays them together. Whatever happens, Rodriguez certainly has the potential to establish himself as a Premiership striker.

All Burnley fans thank him for all his goals and everything he did for the club, and wish him well at Southampton. We identified with him. As the song goes…Jay Rodriguez: He’s One Of Our Own.

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After what feels like no time at all, it’s time for football to take full control of the sporting agenda once again as the Football League kicks off this weekend. So, here’s why you should be excited about its’ return!

New Players – Unless you’re an Everton fan, you know what I’m talking about. What’s not exciting about seeing the new signing who’s supposedly going to tear up the opposition? That’s until he either gets injured or turns out to be shi….not very good.

Young Prospects – Last season, Jack Wilshere was the young player to really make an impact at the top, whilst Connor Wickham was the man in the Championship getting people talking. So which starlets will kick on and improve? Josh McEachran is hotly tipped to succeed at Chelsea whilst Marc Albrighton at Aston Villa is also set for a breakthrough season with the departure of Downing and Young.

Old Timers – Whilst seeing the next generation coming through is great, it is good to see the likes of Ryan Giggs, Phil Neville and Danny Murphy still plying their trade at the very top. Every young player can benefit from playing alongside experienced professionals, so it is important to keep a few knocking about.

Fantasy Football – No season is complete without Fantasy Football. Who to include? Who not to include? Will he be picked every week? Can Fernando Torres actually play football? Big questions. One thing’s certain. You will be left ruing at least one decision two weeks into the season, when that player you had serious thoughts about including in your side, you know the one with the dodgy knee, listed as doubtful for the beginning of the season, goes and bags a hat trick. Nice one.

Renewed Hope – We’ve got the squad and the manager. This year is the year. When we win the Premier League/ FA Cup/ Carling Cup/ Champions League/ Europa League/Johnstone’s Paint Trophy (Delete as applicable – Delete all if you’re a Wigan fan). Forget the relegation scrap last year, an anomaly. Keep telling yourself this on a cold Tuesday night in Stoke when you’re 2-0 down with 4 hour journey back to look forward to.

The Championship Is Back! – Yes, the Premier League, wow how exciting, Manchester United won the league again! Yawn. Move down to the Football League for a bit more entertainment, where anyone can beat anyone on any given day. The league though which is the scourge of all punters because of its unpredictable nature is the Championship. With plenty of teams backing themselves for promotion, the second tier will be more competitive than ever.

Pundits Old and New Return – Let’s face it, new Sky Sports pundit Gary Neville won’t exactly mince his words whilst Ray “#stayonyourfeet” Wilkins already provides great entertainment, not that its’ necessarily unbiased. Then there’s Chris “Unbelievable Jeff” Kamara. Words don’t do the man justice.

More Talk About The Game, Less About Transfer Sagas – If you haven’t managed to get out of the country since the end of the last season, then the never ending transfer sagas of Cesc Fabregas and Luka Modric will be lulling you to sleep. Finally, we might have a bit more focus on what’s happening on the pitch.

Less Reports on Twitter – Don’t get me wrong. Twitter’s great. Something’s awry though when the press are printing Joey Barton quoting Nietzsche and George Washington.

The Pub Debate – Footballing issues need a platform for discussion outside the stadium. Where else can Goal Line Technology, Referees or what chant your side has prepared for Ryan Giggs this season be discussed?

So ensure you enjoy this season, win, lose or draw, just remember what Bill Shankly once said.

‘Some people believe football is a matter of life and death, I am very disappointed with that attitude. I can assure you it is much, much more important than that.’

Article courtesy of Archie Rhind-Tutt from his excellent site – Gone With The Rhind

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Kick-Off the Premier League season with Football FanCast’s NEW ScoreCast from 2.45pm

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Fulham and Blackburn Rovers are both planning to solve their striking problems by making a bid for Espanyol player Pablo Osvaldo.

Somewhat of a journey man, Osvaldo has played for six teams since 2005 but it is his form this season that has alerted Fulham and Blackburn to his ability. He has scored five goals in 10 games and has helped Espanyol to fifth place in La Liga.

Osvaldo’s agent, Dario Decoud, has revealed that the Premier League duo are leading the chase to sign the player who is reportedly also wanted by Juventus.

Osvaldo is a dual Italian and Argentine citizen but chose to play international football for Italy and has scored two goals in 12 appearances for their U-21 side.

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The 24 year-old is currently in the first year of a five year contract and it is thought that a bid of around £6 million would be required to prise him away from Spain.

Didier Drogba has revealed that he is yet to make a decision over where he will play his football next term, but will make up his mind in the near future.

The African hitman has left Stamford Bridge after his Chelsea contract expired, departing after helping the Blues to FA Cup and Champions League glory in 2011-12.

The Ivory Coast international has been linked with a move to a raft of clubs, with a big-money switch to join former Chelsea team-mate Nicolas Anelka at Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua thought to be on the cards.

Drogba has not dropped any hints of where he will play in 2012-13, but has stated that an announcement will be made in the near future.

“The next step is interesting,” Drogba told reporters, published by Sky Sports.

“I will announce it soon. But as of now, you will just have to wait.

“Chelsea were very good for me. I shared a special relationship with the club.

“It was a difficult decision to leave them,” he concluded.

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By Gareth McKnight

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Liverpool have agreed a fee for Aston Villa winger Stewart Downing, the Anfield club revealed on Wednesday.Downing, 26, has reportedly been a target of two previous bids from Liverpool during the English Premier League off-season, and it now appears that the Reds are close to landing the England midfielder.

A statement on Liverpool’s website announced a bid had been accepted for Downing, with Villa chief executive Paul Faulkner telling The Guardian that Downing had handed in a transfer request to help push through the move.

“I can confirm that we have reached an agreement with Liverpool following an improved offer received earlier today and the submission of a formal transfer request by Stewart Downing, and have subsequently given them permission to speak with the player,” he said.

“We believe there are replacements available in the market who can strengthen our squad ahead of the coming season, and we are in discussions as such. We are also working hard to conclude a deal for a goalkeeper, who we believe can also strengthen the side.”

Downing joined Villa in 2009 in a package worth 12 million pounds from boyhood club Middlesbrough.

His arrival at Liverpool would be the latest big-money buy for manager Kenny Dalglish.

Strike duo Andy Carroll (35 million pounds) and Luis Suarez (22.8 million) joined in January, while midfielders Jordan Henderson (16 million) and Charlie Adam (seven million) have been off-season arrivals.

When the Champions League draw was made, many Arsenal fans had a feeling they were going to draw Barcelona. Arsene Wenger’s side threw their group away, and this is the punishment Arsenal are going to face. Barcelona have been sensational for the past three years, and seem to be getting better. I wouldn’t give Arsenal too much of a chance against them – if they continue to play like they have over the past weeks. A defeat may actually help Arsenal’s long term Premier League aspirations.

Arsene Wenger must know that the Premier League is there for the taking this season. Although Arsenal have fallen behind Manchester United, they are still very much in it. Arsenal need to get their priorities right. Winning the Champions League would be a fantastic achievement but becoming Premier League champions has to be the priority. There are no certainties in football, however, Chelsea and Manchester United have been handed very favourable draws, and Tottenham stand a good chance of defeating Milan. A defeat against Barcelona would not be the end of the world in terms of the Premier League.

The longer Manchester United and Chelsea are in the competition, the better for Arsenal. Manchester United have a backlog of fixtures coming up, mix that with the FA Cup and they could struggle. Do Manchester United have the squad capable of challenging on three fronts in 2011? It would seem they do not, Arsenal could take advantage of this. Chelsea will also be competing on three fronts with a paper thin squad. Add to this, Chelsea’s obsession to win the Champions League and they may take their eye off the Premier League.

Again, nothing is certain in football. I am not saying for one moment that Arsenal will not beat Barcelona. However, going on last year and the way the two sides have played this season, the likelihood is that Barcelona will win the tie over the two legs. Arsenal have a better team this year, but so do Barcelona. They have added David Villa to their strike force, and his performance in the recent Catalan derby was majestic. If Barcelona go into the Arsenal game in this form, Arsenal will be put to the sword again. Arsene Wenger’s side have come a long way since being destroyed in the Nou Camp but again, so have Barcelona. There would be no disgrace in losing to Barcelona, it could help them.

If Arsenal lose to Barcelona but win the Premier League in May, it may be seen as a blessing in disguise. It is completely hypothetical but we have to accept that in all probability Chelsea and Manchester United will go further in the Champions League. If the Arsenal squad has their eye on the ball, fighting for one championship, Arsenal could very well become 2010-2011 Premier League champions.

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Buy Arsenal Champions League tickets here!

Delivering English football’s most famous trophy back to Anfield would have gone some way to appeasing Kopites who’ve witnessed the club take 10 steps back in the goal of Champions League qualification this season. Unfortunately the domestic double wasn’t to be, although I’m sure most Liverpool fans would have been happy (had they been asked at the start of the season) to have landed at least one piece of silverware this year. The hard work and rebuild for Liverpool, in terms of being competitive in the league, starts now and Kenny Dalglish will undoubtedly working tirelesslythroughout the summer to make the Reds once again contenders for a top four finish.

This week on FFC the jury is out on who is responsible for Liverpool’s underwhelming campaign and Dalglish gives an indication in respect to his summer transfer targets.

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Best of FFC

The Finger of blame at Anfield?

The transfer dilemma facing Kenny Dalglish

The 12 Premier League clubs stung by this ‘transfer premium’

One of the best decisions Kenny Dalglish’s can make as Liverpool manager?

Deep rooted personnel – how would they ever leave their clubs?

Liverpool chief drops transfer hint

Liverpool join the £12m transfer race

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Best of WEB

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Time To Stand Up and Be Counted – Live 4 Liverpool

Hansen warns: ‘Poor’ LFC must beat Chelsea or this season is a failure. Agree…? – Liverpool Kop

The scale of Fenway’s challenge at Liverpool becomes clear – This is Anfield

Dalglish, Transfers and Looking Ahead – The Tomkins Times

Do Any Summer Signings Depend on Sales? – Live 4 Liverpool

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The transition from digression to progression – This is Anfield

Why Dalglish Is Wasting Valuable Time Scouting Belhanda – Transfer Tavern

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Quote of the Week

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“People will judge us after Saturday. People will say ‘you haven’t done well in the league’ but we can say ‘yes, but we have won two cups’. I think that’s a fair argument.

“We will assess the season after the weekend. If we can look back and say we have won two cups, then we will be happy. But we need to address the problem of our league position. We are all aware we have underachieved in the league and the squad of players is certainly better than where we are.” Ahead of the FA Cup final Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard insists Liverpool will be happy with their season if they end up with two trophies

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Match Highlights

Unless a team is in the Premier League or has a very wealthy backer they are unlikely to have much money to play with to bring players in. Therefore, players have to be signed for low transfer fees and low wages. Even teams in the Premier League may have to use a similar strategy or at least choose to use this strategy. Take the example of Blackpool; a team that spent comparably little on players ahead of their solitary season in the Premier League. The Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has repeatedly said that he refuses to pay wages in excess on £10,000 per week.

So the dilemma is a club with a limited budget finds a young starlet and brings them into the club. After a few seasons of playing regular first-team football; their value begins to soar. Now while the player has plenty of time on their contract this isn’t so much of a problem. However, when the star gets into the last 18 months to a year this begins to become an issue. The club will then look to agree a new contract with the player. Now in an ideal the world the player will accept a decent wage with the financial constraints the club has. But as we all know this doesn’t always happen especially if the player’s head has been turned by bigger clubs showing an interest. Then the player may ask for an excessive wage or request they move on and join the bigger club with deeper pockets.

This creates an obvious dilemma for the smaller club as they must decide if to meet the player’s demands or sell the player on. But there is of course a third option of allowing the player to run down the contract and hope that personal terms can be agreed at some point. However if the terms cannot not be agreed then the club will risk losing the player for nothing.

Sometimes though a club may feel that they are better off using a player for the last year of the contract and then losing them for nothing; clearly this is the case due to the high number of quality bosman transfers that are available each summer. Critics may say why would a club allow a player to run down his contract and then leave for nothing? Well a couple of things need to be kept in mind here; the proposed market value of the player and the advantage of using a player over a period of time rather than selling them. It’s obviously really but a player in the last year of their contract is highly unlikely to command a high transfer fee in comparison with the potential transfer fee they would have if they had 5 years remaining on their contract.

Now if the club is in mid-table then they may be best advised to sell the player on for any transfer fee they can get. However, if the club is involved in the promotion/relegation picture then the situation may be quite different. Even if the player is out of contract at the end of that season; the player could be persuaded to stay and sign a new contract if the club is successful in staying up or gaining promotion. Also the club may take the view that the money in gaining promotion or staying in a division is more significant than any individual transfer fee for one player.

But as ever with contracts the issue isn’t always black and white and it isn’t always a case of if the player will sign or not and there could be any number of reasons why a player won’t sign. Sometimes the player won’t sign purely for financial reasons; but length of contract or desire to win trophies could also be contributing factors. Therefore, an ambitious player that doesn’t see his long-term future at the club; may only be prepared to sign a short term deal with a significant weekly wage and a possible get out clause for a set fee.

So should a club accept such terms or take the view that no player in bigger than the club? Well my opinion is they should not agree to these terms. At this point the player should be allowed to leave and the club should look for their next star. Smaller clubs must accept that there comes a time when a player should be allowed to leave. However, it’s important to get the balance right because a team can’t be selling all their best players when they reach a certain level. But it’s time for smaller clubs to get smart by having a scouting system that recruits young players and if they turn out to be superstars then sell them on and then reinvest that money in the team. Smaller clubs should not pay crazy wages but find ways to be successful with an element of financial control.

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Wigan Athletic boss Roberto Martinez was full of praise for his side's discipline after a 1-0 home win over West Brom lifted the out of the relegation places.

A Victor Moses strike proved decisive at the DW Stadium, as Wigan won only their third league game of the campaign, with the victory enough to lift them above Birmingham City.

Martinez told the club's official website:"It was a very difficult game and it might not have been pretty, but it was three valuable points.

"I am so proud that the players were able to find the answers, because we didn't have the control or the dominance we have had in recent weeks.

"But we got the three points we feel we deserved and that is a massive step forward for us.

"I just felt that it was a performance where everyone had to be at 100 per cent and had to stay concentrated for the whole 90 minutes. In that respect, we were perfect.

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"You have to find a way of creating chances without leaving yourself too exposed at the back.

"We managed to create three good chances, we took one of them and three very deserved points."Subscribe to Football FanCast News Headlines by Email