After relegation from the Championship last season, Wigan Athletic will begin their 2023-24 League One campaign on Saturday when they travel to Derby County at Pride Park.
Derby narrowly missed out on the playoffs in 2022-23 and will be hoping to put up another promotion challenge, while the Latics will start the new campaign with an eight-point deduction after financial problems last season.
Match preview
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Derby County were on the cusp of a potential Championship return last season, narrowly missing out on the playoffs, meaning that promotion is the main aim for Paul Warne and his players this year.
The Rams finished a solitary point outside the top six last season, despite posting a 15-game unbeaten streak between October and February, with a 1-0 defeat to Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the campaign sealing the club's fate.
Derby have enjoyed plenty of success in their recent warm-up matches, picking up three wins as they prepare for another campaign in the third tier. However, Warne's side ended their pre-season preparation with a 3-1 defeat against Premier League side Sheffield United at Pride Park Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
Last season, Derby had one of the better home records in the division, picking up 45 points from 23 matches, and they won their opening three matches in front of their own fans last term.
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After a year of financial difficulty and issues paying wages, Wigan Athletic were relegated to League One last season, after three seasons in the Championship.
Despite the eight-point deduction that manager Shaun Maloney has to negotiate to commence this campaign, June's takeover from a consortium led by Mike Danson seems to have stabilised matters at the DW Stadium, and there's certainly cause for optimism.
When Maloney took charge of the Latics, they had the worst defensive record in the Championship with 49 goals conceded in 28 matches, but from that point on they had the fifth-best, shipping just 16 in 18 matches.
A promotion charge may seem a bit far fetched this season, especially starting with a points deduction, but Maloney will have ambitions for his side to finish mid-table with the quality they have in the ranks.
Wigan come into this match in reasonable form, ending their pre-season campaign with a 2-0 victory over Morecambe at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium last Saturday afternoon.
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Team News
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Following the departure of stalwarts Curtis Davies and David McGoldrick earlier this summer, Derby County have made a number of signings, bringing in Sonny Bradley from Luton Town and Conor Washington from Rotherham United.
Josh Vickers, Joe Ward, Callum Elder, Curtis Nelson and Kane Wilson have also arrived at Pride Park, bolstering Warne's options in every department.
Meanwhile, Wigan's demotion to the third tier inevitably led to a mass exodus of players, and Maloney has lost all of Curtis Tilt, Max Power, Ryan Nyambe, Tendayi Darikwa, Jordan Cousins, Will Keane, Graeme Shinnie and Steven Caulker among others.
To compensate, the Latics have added Liverpool and Bayern Munich loanees James Balagizi and Liam Morrison, as well as Callum McManaman, Sean Clare, Jonny Smith and Matt Smith.
Derby County possible starting lineup:
Wildsmith; Forsyth, Nelson, Ward; Bird, Bradley, Hourihane, Smith, Thompson; Mendez-Laing, Collins
Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Amos; Whatmough, Morrison, Pearce; Clare, M. Smith, Balagizi, Robinson; Aasgaard, McManaman; Wyke
We say: Derby County 2-1 Wigan Athletic
Derby come into this match in better form than their opponents, and we are expecting them to start the campaign strongly here to match their promotion ambitions.
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