We take the short coach trip to Wigan with confidence high after the mid-week win over Sunderland which extended our unbeaten run in the league to eight games. If we are to continue our climb up the table and reach the holy grail of a Europa League qualification spot it is imperative that we maintain the recent momentum. Everton’s end of season run-in looks friendly in this regard. After playing Spurs away on February 28th we face: Hull (h), Birmingham (a), Bolton (h), Wolves (a), West Ham (h), Villa (a), Blackburn (a), Fulham (h), Stoke (a), Portsmouth (h) and on the final day City away. With the exception of Villa away and that last fixture, not one of those opponents should hold any particular fear for us.
The Latics are inconsistent performers. They have beaten Villa, Wolves and Burnley on the road and Chelsea at home, while losing 9-1 at Spurs, 4-0 at Pompey and by five goals to nil against Man United home and away. They now sport a goal difference of minus 22, having conceded 46 goals in 21 matches. No surprise then that manager Roberto Martinez has moved to strengthen his defence and signed Gary Caldwell (older brother Steven plays for Burnley) from Celtic in the current transfer window; he scored his first goal for Wigan in the 2-1 defeat at Blackburn on Wednesday. With Chris Kirkland out injured and Richard Kingson representing Ghana in the Africa Cup of Nations final, recently signed Serbian keeper Vladimir Stojkovic looks set to continue between the sticks while right-back and skipper Mario Melchiot came off with a neck injury against Blackburn and is a major doubt. Paul Scharner is not a prolific goalscorer. In four years at Wigan he has netted just thirteen times in the league, yet four of those strikes – an astonishing 30% - have come against Everton. The Austrian stands 6ft 3 inches in his cotton socks, so we trust that Fellaini will be picking up the midfielder at set-pieces, rather than say Leon, Landon or Leighton.
For the Toffees there are no new injury problems. Yakubu and Yobo are presumably, and in the former case, hopefully, making their way back from Angola. Hibbert and Jagielka are definitely out, Rodwell and Gosling, the hamstring twins, though recovering, are doubtful, while Anichebe and Arteta look set to continue on the substitutes bench as they lack match fitness. We expect David Moyes to select the same team which started so well against Sunderland.
EVERTON Dixies60 XI to start (4-4-1-1): Howard; Neville ©, Heitinga, Distin, Baines; Fellaini, Osman, Donovan, Pienaar; Cahill; Saha
Subs: Nash, Anichebe, Arteta, Bilyaletdinov, Coleman, Senderos, Vaughan
WIGAN ATHLETIC probable XI (4-2-3-1): Stojkovic; Boyce, Caldwell, Bramble, Figueroa; Thomas, Diame; N’Zogbia, Scharner, McCarthy; Rodallega
Subs: Pollitt, Gohouri, Amaya, Gomez, Scotland, Sinclair, Watson
Referee: Alan Wiley Kick-off: 1500, Saturday
