Well the local derby, probably Wigan’s biggest rivalry & if ever we needed to get a win at Home for the first time in Months, this would be the team to get the 3 points against!
Neil Lennon’s team arrive at the DW with their own ‘indifferent form,’ this is on from the October’s New Manager Bump, which saw Bolton move away from the Relegation zone in November & December. They are indeed probably safe with 44 points, but putting pressure on Wigan, Bolton come into this game with just 2 wins in their last 8 & a terrible run of 6 defeats on the spin away from home, but then again Wigan have lost 6 on the spin at home too.
It is of course not stating the obvious a must win game, 8 games to go & one of the best opportunities to pick up 3 points looking at some of the teams Wigan still have to play in Derby & Boro.
Again this time of the season we’ll also be looking at the teams above Wigan to see how they perform, both Fulham & Rotherham are 6 points away. Fulham are away to Huddersfield and Rotherham are at home to Sheffield Wednesday, so Wigan do have a chance come Saturday evening of being just 3 points away from safety with a better goal different to boot. #believe
It’s the 39th game in the Sky Bet Championship. Wigan Athletic will be playing Bolton Wanderers at the DW Stadium, match will be played on Saturday the 21st of March, with a 3pm Kick off.
League Position, Wigan is in 22nd place with 34 points, Bolton is in 16th place with 44 points. Top of the table are Watford, with 72 points after of course beating Wigan 2-0 last time out. Have a read of Peter’s match report for ‘Dark’ style reporting. Watford is top by a single goal difference from Boro & yes we have to play Middlesbrough next.
Looking at recent form coming into this game & we have covered this slightly, Wigan are higher in the form table for the last 6 matches, Wigan are in 14th place with 9 points and Bolton are in 16th place with 7 points. Top of the form table are Watford on 16 points:
- Wigan P 6 W 3 D 0 L 3 (Wins against Blackpool, Norwich & Rotherham)
- Bolton P 6 W 2 D 1 L 3 (Wins against Brighton & Millwall)
Previous Games between the 2, we covered these for the game at the Macron in November, Bolton won that game 3-1, it was Uwe’s last game in charge, yep, the grass isn’t always greener is it! That win for Bolton was Lennon’s 4th in his first 6 games; of course January then saw Bolton repeat the result 1-0 in the 3rd Round of the FA Cup and stopped Wigan’s chances of getting to Wembley for 3rd season on the spin.
Overall there have been 52 games between Wigan & Bolton including friendlies; Wigan has won 20, Bolton 19, with 13 draws, thanks to Cockney Latic for the head to head info.
Referee from the Game will be Nigel Miller; assistants will be Simon Clayton & Ian Dudley, with the 4th official being Chris Kavanagh.
We last saw Nigel in the positive Boxing Day game for Wigan, a 2-0 win at Elland Road, Cooper (o.g.) & McClean getting the goals for I think Malky’s first win, on the day Nigel booked 2 players with Wigan’s goal scorer seeing Yellow.
Bolton & Nigel, well November saw Bolton draw 1-1 with Blackpool at Bloomfield Road, Nigel gave out 3 yellow cards, with sub Jay Spearing getting Bolton’s only card that day.
Overall this season, Nigel has looked after; 28 games issuing 75 Yellows & just 1 Red.
Team News, well for Wigan Pennant & Ojo left early in the 2nd half against Watford whilst they chased the game at 1-0 down, so doubt they are tactics over injuries (stop laughing), believe Malky has a full team to choose from bar the Holt & of course a number of young loan players supplementing Wigan’s income.
How the Bookies see the game, they have a Home win at 38%, a draw at 28% and Bolton taking all 3 points back to Horwich at 34%.
As for William Hill, they have the game at Wigan at 6/5, both the draw & away win at 23/10. As for the foolish bet, you can get 65/1 for Wigan to win 1-0 and James Perch to score.
As an alternative bet a Huddersfield & Sheffield Wednesday double will get you £31.50 for a £5 stake.
My thoughts on the game, WIN.
Andy
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