Latics v Rovers Preview

Latics are back in action today following their Thursday night heroics against Maribor in the Europa League, the big question is will we be jaded or riding the crest of a wave?

Hopefully the whole camp will be buzzing, not only about the result but also the performance, which was as good as we have played for a while, Owen Coyle’s preseason promise of getting the Latics to play fast attacking football, on the deck, is showing signs of coming to fruition now that the team are blending and settling

Blackburn have also been settling of late under Gary Bowyer, they are in the middle of a good run of form which has seen them climb to ninth in the table on 15 points after a poor start to the season and Jordan Rhodes is once again banging the goals in, he already has nine from seven games

Latics are chasing their 600th league victory and to achieve that against one of our local rivals would be nice, but this will be a tough game, here’s looking forward to another exciting encounter down at the DW

What The Bosses Say:

Latics boss Owen Coyle:

‘The performance (v NK Maribor) mirrored what the lads produced at Vicarage Road last weekend

‘After that game we sat down and looked over how well we had performed with the intention of hitting those standards each week.

‘What we need to do now is stay on the front foot and take this form into a massive derby game on Sunday against Blackburn Rovers.’

Blackburn boss Gary Bowyer:

‘They’ve got a top manager in Owen Coyle and, similar to ourselves, they have made a lot of changes to personnel.

‘It takes time for a team to gel and to get to know other and they have the added extra of European football.

‘So it’s been a tough start for them.’

‘People always talk about is it a good time or not a good time to play teams (who have been in Europe)?

‘Winning breeds confidence so it will be two teams going into it very confident.

‘If we can get something from it will end to a very good week and we could go into the international break content with the work that we’ve done’

Wigan Athletic Team News:

Grant Holt and Thomas Rogne are both available after overcoming injury problems, but Shaun Maloney, Gary Caldwell, Ivan Ramis and Ali Al Habsi are all still out

Latics possible – Carson, Shotton, Rogne, Barnett, Perch, Watson, McArthur, McManaman, Beausejour, Powell, Holt

Player to watch: Nick Powell

The lad is a class act and could turn out to be the signing of the season

By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic

Blackburn Rovers Team News:

David Dunn, DJ Campbell and Ruben Rochina are sidelined with injury.

Blackburn possible – Kean, Kane, Dann, Spurr, Hanley, Evans, Cairney, King, Lowe, Best, Rhodes

Player to watch: Jordan Rhodes

Linked with a Latics bid in the summer and scoring goals for fun, a bad combination

Any Previous?

Latics and Blackburn have met 19 times

Latics 4 wins, Blackburn 11, draws 4

Last Six Meetings

07/05/2012 – Premier League – Blackburn 0 Latics 1
09/11/2011 – Premier League – Latics 3 Blackburn 3
05/02/2011 – Premier League – Latics 4 Blackburn 3
06/11/2010 – Premier League – Blackburn 2 Latics 1
27/01/2010 – Premier League – Blackburn 2 Latics 1
26/12/2009 – Premier League – Latics 1 Blackburn 1

Ref Watch:

Stuart Attwell (Warwickshire)

Why not take a look at our ‘Meet The Ref’ article

Stuart Attwell Card Watch 2013/14

Games 8, yellows – 27, reds – 1

Match Prediction:

Head says very tired 1-1

Heart says crest of a wave 2-0 Latics win, as always going with the heart

Up Next:

Championship
Blackpool v Latics
Bloomfield Road
Saturday
19/10/13
12:15pm

UEFA Europa League
Latics v Rubin Kazan
DW Stadium
Thursday
24/10/13
8:05pm

Why not have a listen to the latest podcast, it contains a preview of todays game

The podcast can be downloaded from itunes or via our hosting site www.buzzsprout.com or by simply hitting the play button on the embedded player below

Thank you very much for listening, your support is very much appreciated

Previous podcast episodes can be accessed at progresswithunity.blogspot.co.uk

You can listen to the podcast on various equipment, please check manufacturer’s instructions