Latics v West Brom Preview

This is it folks, a win and we are out of the bottom three, with the 'others' not playing today we can really put some pressure on by getting those elusive three points

Last weekend at Norwich gave some great optimism, the introduction in the second half of Shaun Maloney was the little spark that we have been craving all season, his play was attacking, fast and incisive and a great pass from Maloney put Moses through for our equaliser

Whether Maloney gets a start today or not we'll have to wait and see but at least he gives us a different option from the bench

West Brom recently put together successive wins as they picked their own form up, that was halted at Old Trafford last weekend but they will still be a tough nut to crack

We have a big chance to get out of the drop zone today, so far this season we haven't been able to capitalise on these opportunities, this time we really need to for there may not be many chances left

Latics boss Roberto Martinez:

'Come Saturday we need to be patient, not allow any anxiety to creep in and perform over the full 95 minutes to get the win I believe the team deserve.'

'One win here this season is nowhere near good enough, but of the six draws we've managed we deserved four or five wins, which shows how dominant we've been in games here.

'There are five home games left to go and we need to collect the rewards, I believe in football that if you keep showing the right levels you'll balance things up and get what you deserve at the end.

'To help that we need to use the DW Stadium to our advantage and create a hostile environment.

'We've done it before against the likes of Arsenal and West Ham, so we're looking forward to a repeat this season as well.'


West Brom boss Roy Hodgson:

'The fact is only victories are going to be sufficient for Wigan. They will look at that last 10 games and see some which will be enormous asks for them.

'They had an excellent 1-1 draw at Norwich but it's still only point.

'Another draw against us is still going to leave them further away from their target and with perhaps not many games in the last nine where they feel they have a clear chance of winning.'

Mike Pollitt and Dave Jones are definitely out, Hugo Rodallega and Albert Crusat are doubts

Latics from - Al-Habsi, Boyce, Caldwell, Alcaraz, Figueroa, Beausejour, McCarthy, McArthur, Diame, Gómez, Moses, Rodallega, Kirkland, Gohouri, Thomas, Watson, Di Santo, McManaman, López, Maloney, Sammon, Stam, Crusat

Moses scored a good goal last week, now he needs to go on a scoring run

Victor Moses

By permission of Bernard Platt/Wigan Athletic

Olsen and Gera are out, Odemwingie is doubtful

West Brom from - Foster, Dawson, McAuley, Reid, Shorey, Scharner, Mulumbu, Thomas, Morrison, Fortune, Long, Fulop, Tchoyi, Brunt, Dorrans, Ridgewell, Andrews, Jones, Dorrans, Odemwingie, Tamas, Cox, Scharner, Thorne, Nabi, Brown

It'll be nice to see Scharner back at the DW

Latics and West Brom have met 16 times

Latics 7 wins, West Brom 6, draws 3

Michael Oliver (Northumbria)

Why not take a look at our Meet The Ref article

Michael Oliver Card Watch 2011/12

Games - 29, yellow - 75, reds - 4

Head says Latics win 2-0

So does the heart...C'MON!!!

Premier League

Liverpool v Latics
Anfield
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24/03/12
3pm

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DW Stadium
Saturday
31/03/12
3pm













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