Wigan travel to Fulham looking for three points to lift them out of the bottom three.
They have a reasonably strong pool to choose from. They have signed two new players, Espinoza and Henriquez, and have also recalled Dicko from Blackpool.
However, leading goal scorer Kone is away with the Ivory Coast at the African Nations Cup. Alcarez and Miyaichi continue their recovery but are not yet ready to return from injury. Crusat and Watson have longer term injuries.
Wigan rested most of their first team last Saturday, but face Bournemouth in an FA Cup replay on Tuesday. So it will be interesting to see Martinez' team selection. Wigan usually line up in 3-4-3 so they may look something like this;
Al Habsi
Ramis Cardwell Figueroa
Boyce McCarthy McArthur Beausejour
Di Santo Gomez Maloney
Squad members include Pollitt, Jones, Stam, Espinoza, McManaman, Henriquez and Dicko.
Wigan away to Fulham
posted on 12/1/13
For Fulham, Schwarzer, Richardson, Petric and Duff come in.
Schwarzer
Richardson Hangeland Hughes Riether
Duff Karagounis Kacaniklic Ruiz
Berbatov Petric
For Wigan, Kone is missing and Jones plays;
Al Habsi
Ramis Cardwell Figueroa
Boyce McCarthy McArthur Jones Beausejour
Di Santo Maloney
There's no place, even on the bench, for Espinoza.
posted on 12/1/13
A more encouraging performance from Wigan. They matched Fulham in possession, and perhaps even had the edge.
Both goals came from great individual efforts but either side might have scored another. I will settle for a point that takes Wigan above a despairing Aston Villa and out of the bottom three.
This performance sets Wigan up for the critical run of games coming up. They will miss Ramis but Alcaraz should be back to join the fight in a fortnight.
posted on 14/1/13
You should use Dicko more, he was good of Blackpool last year.