Wigan Athletic v Wolves

The first Premiership showdown this Saturday sees us return to the scene of out first ever away victory in the Premiership as we travel to Wigan.

We will have to give the same kind of attacking performance just like we finished the game with against Villa. Wigan conceded 79 goals last season so there should be no reason why we should go for the win. If Mick McCarthy's got to make substitutions to chase a win then he's gotta stick Kevin Doyle, Steven Fletcher and Sylvan Ebanks-Blake in a front three. One change we could make is Stephen Ward paving the way for George Elokobi, impressed me last week.

Wigan will look to recent impressive away results for inspiration as they look for their first win at the DW Stadium this season. However, to do that, they must rely on a defence that has conceded an average of more than two goals per game last season to stop our front three from adding to their creditable tallies. One omen Wigan fans could pine for is that when Hugo Rodallega scores, they would go on to win in most matches and that could provide more motivation for Jody Craddock and Christophe Berra to stop him.

I predict a 3-1 win to us but I would be happy to take any win just to stop the rot and ease the pressure of winning the next game against West Ham before four big cheeses back-to-back. This is a must-not-lose game to say at the least.

'Grobs'

POSSIBLE LINE-UP

WIGAN (4-5-1): Al-Habsi; Boyce, Gohouri, Stam, Figueroa; Alcaraz, McCarthy, Diame, Thomas, N'Zogbia; Rodallega

WOLVES (4-4-2): Hahnemann; Foley, Craddock, Berra, Elokobi; Edwards, Henry, Jones, Jarvis; Doyle, Fletcher

KEY PLAYER: Charles N'Zogbia. A handful at Molineux last season. Kevin Foley and Dave Edwards will have to double up well to stop him.

WEAKEST LINK: The entire back four. Ali Al-Habsi looks like a good keeper, but he sure ain't no Superman.

ODDS (with William Hill) (see more odds)

WIN: Wigan 5/4; Draw 11/5; Wolves 23/10

FIRST GOALSCORER: Rodallega (Wigan) 13/2; Fletcher (Wolves) 13/2; Doyle (Wolves) 13/2; Boselli (Wigan) 7-1; Di Santo (Wigan) 7-1; Ebanks-Blake (Wolves) 15/2; N'Zogbia (Wigan) 8/1;McCarthy (Wigan) 12/1; 9/1; Jarvis (Wolves) 14/1; Jones (Wolves) 14/1; Craddock (Wolves) 25/1

NOTABLE MUTUAL ALUMNI: Henri Camara, Tony Dinning, Paul Cook, Andy Mutch, John Pender, David Connolly.

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