Latics face Birmingham at the DW Stadium this afternoon hoping to make it two wins on the bounce following last weekend’s victory over Blackpool.
The big question today will be over midfield man James McArthur, will the Scotland international take his place in the team after his proposed moved to the Premier League with Leicester City failed to materialise, we’ll have to wait and see on that, but my money would be on yes he will be in the side.
There is an international break following this game, both camps will be hoping to set themselves up for a fortnight without league action with the three points under their belt. Birmingham have started the season with two draws and a win from their first four games and will want to keep the game tight, they have recruited well over the summer, David Cotterill, Clayton Donaldson and David Edgar being very good captures.
The Latics though are at home, we need to enforce our advantage and push on from last week, this is a game that we should be looking to win and that isn’t being disrespectful to Birmingham, we are at home against a club that struggled against relegation last campaign, hopefully our season is now up and running following the slow start.
What The Bosses Say:
Latics boss Uwe Rösler – ‘Obviously we worked on finishing this week’
‘We worked on how we want to address the game, every game tactically has one or two different things that we are focusing on offensively but in principle we did a lot of things right for the majority of the Blackpool game and I think we want to continue in that way.
‘We’re quite optimistic and in good shape coming off the back of two good performances, obviously the last one was rewarded with three good points.
‘Hopefully we can make another step to climb up the table.’
‘For financial reasons, they (Birmingham) had to change their squad completely but they have some familiar faces like Clayton Donaldson who is a player I signed for Brentford and I’m a big admirer of him’
‘They have a very hard-working team, play a 4-4-2 with two very mobile strikers who will try and go in behind our defence all the time; they’re very quick and that will be a new challenge for our players at the back.
‘Apart from that, they’re solid and compact; a typically very well organised Championship team. ‘
Birmingham assistant boss Steve Watson – ‘I’m assuming Uwe won’t be particularly happy with the start they’ve made
‘Although they did win the last home game. They’ll probably be looking at Saturday as a way to finish their first spell going into the international break with a win.
‘But we don’t see it like that. We’re confident.
‘We went there last year and earned a point through being hard to beat and causing them problems. We had Jesse Lingard sent off as well.
‘We’ve done our homework on them and we’re confident we’ve done enough work to cause them problems and get something.’
Wigan Athletic Team News:
Ben Watson, Chris McCann and James McClean are all out long term, no word on Shaun Maloney after the Scotland international missed the past two games through illness.
It will be interesting to see if both James McArthur and Ivan Ramis are in the team today, whilst McArthur missed a move to the Premier League reports in Europe suggest that Ramis is about to join Spanish club Deportivo La Coruna, we’ll wait and see on that.
Latics possible – Carson, Perch, Boyce, Ramis, Kiernan, Taylor, Cowie, Huws, McArthur, McManaman, Riera
Player to watch: Callum McManaman
Callum has been on fire so far this season
Top McManaman
By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic
Birmingham City Team News:
Matt Green and Gavin Gunning are out and Neal Eardley is a doubt.
Birmingham from – Randolph, Spector, Edgar, Hall, Grounds, Cotterill, Caddis, Davis, Novak, Donaldson, Thomas, Doyle, Robinson, Brown, Gleeson, Duffy, Gray, Johnstone
Player to watch: Clayton Donaldson
Ex-Brentford striker and well known to Uwe Rösler, big, fast and a handful.
Any Previous?
Latics and Birmingham have met 17 times.
Latics 5 wins, Birmingham 5, draws 7
Last Six Meetings
29 Apr 2014 – Championship – Birmingham City 0 Latics 1
26 Dec 2013 – Championship – Latics 0 Birmingham City 0
19 Mar 2011 – Premier League – Latics 2 Birmingham City 1
25 Sep 2010 – Premier League – Birmingham City 0 Latics 0
27 Feb 2010 – Premier League – Birmingham City 1 Latics 0
05 Dec 2009 – Premier League – Latics 2 Birmingham City 3
Ref Watch:
David Webb (Wearside)
Why not take a look at our ‘Meet The Ref’ article
David Webb Card Watch 2014/15
Games – 5, yellows – 11, reds – 1
Match Prediction:
Head says close Latics win, 2-1
Heart says it will be a little less nervy with a 2-0 Latics win, as always going with the heart.
Up Next:
Championship
Blackburn v Latics
Ewood Park
Saturday
13/09/14
3pm
Huddersfield Town v Latics
John Smiths Stadium
Tuesday
16/09/14
7:45pm
Latics v Ipswich Town
DW Stadium
Monday
22/09/14
8pm
Check out the latest PWU podcast
In the studio at the Beech Hill Book Cycle are Barry, Gareth, Rob Mick and Dan.
This week the podcast crew look back at the Blackpool game, good performances throughout the team. Oriol Riera off the mark and it could quite easily have been a rout.
James McArthur, Adam Forshaw, Ivan Ramis and Andy Delort, leaving staying, coming? Who knows, we don’t!
There is a preview of the Birmingham game at the weekend, can we build on the three points from Saturday?
We finish off with a special plea from Dan for a special project at the National Football Museum involving your unwanted Panini cards.
The podcast can be listened to by clicking the embedded player below or downloaded to listen at you leisure by visiting www.buzzsprout.com
Latics fans – please support the walk4tilly
Saturday 11th October, DW Stadium to Haigh Hall and back to the DW, in aid of Alder Hey Children’s Charity
Who is Tilly? My granddaughter that’s who and it’s thanks to Alder Hey that she, and many other local kids are running around today, help us to give something back.
For more info and to register please email walk4tilly@hotmail.com or take a look
