Struggling Fleetwood Town will face League One's second-placed side for the second time in the space of four days when they welcome Wigan Athletic to Highbury Stadium on Tuesday evening.
The hosts' draw with Wycombe Wanderers on Saturday allowed Wigan to leapfrog Wycombe from third into second place, after they ended a run of three straight home defeats by beating Burton Albion 2-0.
Match preview
© Reuters
The incredible entertainment on show in Fleetwood's matches this season continued in their draw with Wycombe at the weekend, with Simon Grayson's side drawing 3-3 with their promotion-hopeful visitors.
After Danny Andrew opened the scoring for the Cod Army inside the opening five minutes, they found themselves 3-1 down shortly after half time.
However, a quickfire double from Joe Garner and Shayden Morris around the hour mark in the second half ensured Fleetwood were rewarded for their efforts against a high-flying opponent.
Those three goals netted at either end increased the tally of goals in Fleetwood's games to a staggering 48 from their opening 14 League One fixtures.
If Tuesday's hosts could keep the door shut in the defensive third of the pitch then they would possibly be sitting safely in a mid-table position and looking up, but instead they find themselves occupying 22nd in the relegation places heading into this match.
In fact, only nine teams can better their goal return of 24 in the league this campaign, so Grayson will be keen to tighten up at the back to ensure his side's survival come May, despite the level of entertainment on display for their supporters.
© Reuters
Meanwhile, Wigan's 2-0 triumph over Burton at the DW Stadium on Saturday allowed them to climb into second place thanks to Fleetwood's comeback against Wycombe.
James McClean continued his fine form by netting his fifth goal of the season inside the opening 10 minutes, before Jonathan Smith's red card for Burton just minutes later allowed the Latics to dominate proceedings from then on.
Curtis Tilt extended the lead shortly after half time and on another day, Leam Richardson's side would have won by a far greater margin.
That result put an end to a strange run of three straight home defeats in the league for the promotion hopefuls, with Wigan's away form of late being the primary reason for their climb towards the summit.
Since the opening day defeat at Sunderland, Richardson has overseen his team win five on the bounce on the road, so will therefore be confident of heaping the pressure on Plymouth Argyle at the top of the table come Tuesday evening.
Due to the struggles in front of their own supporters, consistency has been the issue for Wigan, with back-to-back victories not being registered since the middle of September, which they will be looking to put right against Fleetwood.
- D
- L
- W
- L
- L
- D
- L
- W
- W
- L
- L
- D
- W
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
- L
- W
Team News
© Reuters
Despite being labelled as doubts for Saturday, Fleetwood were able to call on Tom Clarke and Callum Camps against Wycombe, with the former playing the full 90 minutes but the latter having to settle for a place on the bench.
Brad Halliday remains on the sidelines due to a long-term ACL injury, during a recent small injury crisis for the manager to contend with, which has resulted in a number of youngsters featuring in the squad of late.
After their impacts off the bench at the weekend, Morris and Garner will be pushing for a start, with Morris one of the younger players being afforded a chance this season.
Meanwhile, Wigan will welcome back Callum Lang into their squad on Tuesday, after the forward served a one-match suspension on Saturday due to an accumulation of five yellow cards this season.
After the impressive performances of Tilt and debutant Jason Kerr in a formation reshuffle against Burton, Lang may struggle to break back into the side, however.
Charlie Wyke was a doubt for that one but managed to play the full 90 minutes, but fellow doubt Tom Naylor just missed out, so could return on Tuesday.
Fleetwood Town possible starting lineup:
Cairns; McLaughlin, Clarke, Hill; Johnson, Batty, Biggins, Matete, Andrew; Garner, Morton
Wigan Athletic possible starting lineup:
Amos; Kerr, Whatmough, Tilt; Darikwa, Naylor, Power, McClean; Keane; Humphrys, Wyke
We say: Fleetwood Town 1-2 Wigan Athletic
Fleetwood just cannot stop conceding goals this season but are also a great threat going forward.
As a result, and with Wigan being amongst the highest scorers in the division, goals should be expected on Tuesday in an entertaining encounter, which the visitors should come out on top in due to the quality and devastating form they find themselves in on the road.
Top tip
Matthew Tranter
Data Analysis
Our analysis of all available data, including recent performances and player stats up until an hour before kickoff, suggested the most likely outcome of this match was a Wigan Athletic win with a probability of 47.08%. A win for Fleetwood Town had a probability of 27.32% and a draw had a probability of 25.6%.
The most likely scoreline for a Wigan Athletic win was 0-1 with a probability of 11.12%. The next most likely scorelines for that outcome were 1-2 (9.26%) and 0-2 (8.46%). The likeliest Fleetwood Town win was 1-0 (8.01%), while for a drawn scoreline it was 1-1 (12.17%). The actual scoreline of 2-3 was predicted with a 2.6% likelihood. Our data analysis correctly predicted that Wigan Athletic would win this match.
