Wanderers make the short trip to Wigan on Tuesday night looking to bounce back from defeat at the weekend.
Over 4,000 away fans will be backing Ian Evatt’s men at the DW Stadium as they go in search of three important points and derby day bragging rights.
Manager quotes
Ian Evatt: "I said to the players today, if I could choose one game, personally, to have after Saturday it would be this one, so we have to go and play like that.That's what I would have been wanting and the players have to feel the same. We've spoken about it today. With adversity comes opportunity and this game gives us a great opportunity to put right what happened on Saturday.
"There's no better game than that and we're looking forward to it. We know it's going to be tough. Wigan tend to save their best performances for when they play against us and we have to get there ourselves, get to that level and get to our level and if we do, we know we have a great chance of winning the game.
"The team I pick tomorrow is a team that I think we need to go to war with. It's one of those games where we're going to have to go through so many different emotions in 90 minutes to try and win."
Wigan Athletic Manager Shaun Maloney: ““It is a big game for us, it will be a completely different game.
“Whatever I say tactically to the group in the next couple of days, that is one part of the job but I want to see us leave it all out there.
“Let’s see what we have got against one of the better teams in this league. From a physical and mentality point of view, let’s go for it from the first whistle and then what happens, happens.
“It is a tough game and I don’t want my players to go with any sort of confidence on the back of previous results. We need to win the fight first and then we can go and play.”
Team News
Wanderers will have Ricardo Almeida Santos available for selection following the successful appeal of his red card picked up on Saturday.
Randell Williams is back in training but Ian Evatt and his staff will have to make the decision of whether this game comes just too soon for his return.
Dion Charles is still feeling some discomfort in his knee and is therefore ruled out of this one. Wanderers will know more about Nathan Baxter's injury following a further scan this week.
Form Guide
Last time out, Wigan salvaged a point at home to Cheltenham Town on Friday night thanks to an own goal following a deflected strike.
Prior to that, Latics have been very hit and miss with four wins and three losses in the previous seven league games. Those victories included three clean sheets with Maloney’s side edging each of those games 1-0.
Wigan currently occupy 13th position in the league table, eight points above danger and 16 points away from any promotion prospects.
As for Wanderers, they succumbed to a 4-1 defeat to Blackpool despite a positive start through George Thomason's early strike.
That was a first taste of defeat in seven games for the Whites who are still level on points with second place Derby County as they look to respond positively against local neighbours.
Officials:
Referee: John Busby
Assistant Referees: Nigel Lugg and Mark Pottage
Fourth Official: Adam Herczeg
Kick-off:
Tuesday, 7:45pm.
Coverage:
This game will be streamed LIVE on Wanderers TV for both UK and internationally based supporters.
UK Supporters can buy a match pass by clicking HERE.
International supporters can buy either a match pass, an annual pass or a monthly pass to watch the match by clicking HERE.