Etihad Stadium

Wigan fans should not be too despondent after this 3-0 defeat to the über wealthy Manchester City. On this form City are potential Premier League champions and many teams will suffer much heavier defeats at the Etihad Stadium.

City played some world-class football with Sergio Aguero scoring a hat trick, and in all honesty it could have been five or six apart from some slack finishing by City and some great goalkeeping by Ali Al-Habsi.

Al-Habsi saved a penalty from the out of sorts Carlos Tevez and pulled off a string of fine saves to deny a rampant City.

David Silva and Aguero in particular interlinked so effectively that City were unplayable at times.

Some Wigan players were maybe too in awe of their wealthy rivals but City’s attacking options are legion, Tevez, Aguero, Silva, Dzeko, Johnson, Milner, Ballotelli, very few teams will cope against such strength in-depth.

Yet despite the festival atmosphere amongst the City fans, the team’s success is somewhat tainted by their incredible wealth.

The underlying feeling amongst many Wigan fans and neutrals is that City’s huge wealth is creating an apartheid in the Premier League.

City, United and Chelsea are on a different financial level than the rest. This can’t be good for the future of the game and some would even prefer a separation of these teams to create a more competitive league for the rest.

A similar problem has emerged in the Primera Liga with Barcelona and Real Madrid being so far of the rest that the other teams are now seeking a re-balancing of the financial resources by re-drawing the TV deal to make the league competitive again.

The gap between the mega rich teams and the rest continues to grow. A radical solution is required if we want a truly competitive Premier League in England.