PREVIEW | Wigan Athletic v Huddersfield Town
By Daniel Wood
Huddersfield Town travels to Wigan Athletic in the SkyBet Championship on Saturday 14th December at the DW Stadium; 3 pm KO.
Danny Cowley’s men are looking to build on their 1-0 triumph away to Charlton Athletic, which saw Matty Daly score a 92nd-minute winner after they dominated the play against poor form Charlton Athletic. This seen the Terriers bounce back from 5 games without a win.
Wigan Athletic
Wigan Athletic will be looking to end their run of 9 games without a win in the SkyBet Championship. They have lost 6 games during that time and drew 3 games. However, last time out saw them get a draw against West Bromwich Albion, who sit 2nd in the Championship. This draw denied West Brom going back to the top of the Championship.
Their manager, Paul Cook, has been the manager of Wigan Athletic since 2017 and is his biggest managerial role to date. He has a 41.1% win percentage at the club and he leads the club to 18th in the Championship last season and avoided a relegation scare.
The majority of their points tally this season has come at the DW Stadium, including wins over Nottingham Forest and Birmingham City. All of the Latics wins have come at home this season.
Ones to Watch
Chey Dunkley
The 27-year-old defender joined Wigan Athletic in 2017 after leaving Oxford United. The season that saw the Latics get promoted to the Championship, Dunkley was an ever-present. During that season, Wigan had the least goals conceded in the division.
He is Wigan’s top goal scorer this season with 5 goals, which is impressive considering he is a centre-back.
Sam Morsy
After signing from Chesterfield in January 2016, Morsy has gone on to make 100 appearances for Wigan. Following an injury-hit start to the current campaign, Morsy has played in every game since returning from injury, except for the win against Nottingham Forest, for which he was suspended.
Morsy was an integral part of Wigan’s 2017-18 promotion campaign and was named the club captain that season.
TEAM NEWS – HUDDERSFIELD TOWN
The latest team news will be detailed by Danny Cowley at his press conference on Thursday 12 December 2019.
The side was without Trevoh Chalobah (suspended), Fraizer Campbell (hip), Collin Quaner (hip), Tommy Elphick (knee), Alex Pritchard (knee), Jaden Brown (ankle), Demeaco Duhaney (illness) and Lewis O’Brien (calf) for the away win against Charlton Athletic.
TEAM NEWS – WIGAN ATHLETIC
Chey Dunkley served a one-match suspension in his last game and looks to return to the fold. Tom Pearce could also return after playing for Wigan’s Under-23 side last week.
PREDICTION
The Terriers lead the head-to-head record since their first clash with the Latics, back in 1973. Huddersfield have been victories on 14 occasions, Wigan 9 and there have been 7 draws. This will be the first time the two sides have met since 2017. In January 2017, Huddersfield Town achieved a 1-0 away win against The Latics thanks to a Nahki Wells goal near the end of the game.
Both teams do not have the best form going into Saturday’s clash. At the moment in time, both teams seem to be in a relegation battle and will be eager to collect 3 points. Huddersfield won their last game to end a run of 5 games without a win and Wigan have not won in 9 games.
If results go in the Terriers favour, it would see them potentially move up to 17th in the Championship. Meanwhile, Wigan are looking to climb out of the relegation zone and will do so if results go their way.
If feel as though this will be a close game with both teams desperate to gain points. I predict:
Wigan Athletic 1-2 Huddersfield Town